A grand Vesak at Cinnamon Grand

Saturday, 12 May 2012 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Cinnamon Grand Colombo celebrated Vesak over the weekend, paying homage to Sri Lanka’s cultural and religious heritage. The Vesak festivities at the hotel offered both local and foreign visitors a chance to experience Vesak at its best. Cinnamon Grand’s talented staff played a key role in recreating the Vesak experience this year.

The creation of beautifully crafted Vesak lanterns to decorate the hotel, a drink dansala (saruwathdansala) at Nuga Gama and even a special Bakthi geetha session at the village in the city were some of the key activities conducted by the staff. The dansala alone drew over 1690 people.

The Grand’s engineering department headed by Panduka Wijeyawardena was responsible for the beautiful lanterns that adorned the gardens in the front of the hotel. The team chose the symbolic white lotus which in Buddhism represents purity of the mind and the spirit as the vesak theme this year. The significance of the lotus is emphasised in Buddhist scriptures since seven lotus flowers appeared on the ground when the young Buddha took his first seven steps when he was born.

The engineering team created a stunning visual effect with three lotus pillars at the entrance and a profusion of dainty smaller lotus flowers scattered across the garden in picturesque setting. The painstaking and detailed process involved hours of hard work with the use of a variety of different materials with a total of 47 flowers displayed. The hotel’s porch was also decorated with a charming but Grand lantern which had 21 additional beautifully detailed lanterns attached to it.

Different departmental representatives also put together a Bakthi geetha team to entertain guests and restaurant patrons at Nuga Gama in keeping with typical village traditions. The team comprised of Anton Fernandopulle (F&B), Kumudu Jayathilake (Front Office), Gamini Silva (F&B), Poojitha Jagathpriya (F&B), Deepika Satyapala (Front Office), Zahira Jumat (F&B), Nisansala Alwis (F&B), Taniya De Buyzer (F&B), Nilmini Kumari (F&B), Rushani Jayakody (Marketing Communications and Sustainability) and Devinda Abeyweera (Human Resources).