Independence Day

Sri Lankan Independence Day, as we all know, is celebrated on February 4. This year, we celebrated the 62nd Independence Day.
After nearly three decades of war, we celebrated the best Independence Day this year.
After hundreds of years, Sri Lanka gained freedom from the British on 4th February 1948. Since then, every 4th of February is a national day for us to celebrate our freedom and to honour the heroes who struggled to gain that freedom.
Our Independence Day is celebrated with parades and pageants which reflect the patriotism and pride towards our beloved country.
The celebrations start with the hoisting of the national flag and then the singing of the national anthem followed by the traditional lightning of the lamp. Afterwards, the speech of the president, celebrations...
These celebrations are not similar to festivals in other countries . We, Sri Lankans, celebrate our freedom by highlighting our culture, traditions and the achievements gained throughout these years. That is not all; we pay our tribute to the national heroes who had shed blood and sacrificed their lives in order to bring freedom and peace to our country.
Among these national heroes are Weera Puran Appu, Gongalegoda Banda, Anagarika Dharmapala, Weera Cappetipola Disawa, Ponnambalam Ramanathan and many other heroes.

History

Let us discuss about why we had to fight for a freedom in the first place.
It is not only British , the Portuguese, and the Dutch too conquered our country. In 1505, Lorenso de Almaida arrived to our country.
Afterwards, the Portuguese tried to conquer our island, and they were successful for a certain extent. The reason to their failure is national heroes and kings who fought against them. But after the arrival of the Dutch, they had to leave our country. Then the Dutch started to rule our country.
But they couldn’t conquer the entire country because as I said before, our ancestors and kings were too brave. Then, the British arrived. In 1815, the British captured the entire island. These are the reasons why our ancestors had to fight for freedom.
In 1948, when our country officially became the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, D. S. Senanayake became the first Prime Minister.
Freedom to a country is very essential. It not only unites the people in our country, it also pushes our country towards development. In a way, celebrating freedom is serving our country.
To us, Independence Day is a special day not just because it symbolizes independence, but because it reminds us that we are a free nation, that freedom is not something we can get or continue easily. It reminds us that our people fought to bring happiness to our country and that we have the responsibility to continue that happiness and that we love Mother Sri Lanka.