Sri Lanka; being a multicultural society; celebrates a wide variety of festivals; ceremonies and events. Every year on or about April 13th Sinhala and Tamil people celebrate Sinhala and Tamil New Year Festival; and Muslims celebrate Ramadan.

Esala Perahera is the grand festival of Esala held in Sri Lanka. It is a very grand affair with elegant costumes. Happening in July or August in Kandy; it has become a unique symbol of Sri Lanka. It is a Buddhist festival consisting of dances and richly-decorated elephants. There are fire dances; whip dances; Kandian dances and various other cultural dances. The elephants are usually adorned with lavish garments. Exactly which festival this 19th century engraving is meant to represent is not clear; but the representation is very fanciful.