According
to the evidence, It can be conformed that the sacred statue of Christ
in Duwa is more than 170 years old to date. It is believed, that this
life size statue was brought into the village in 1839.This also reveals
that there was once a tradition throughout the world that use statues to
resemble the passion of Christ and passion plays were a part of
Christian life.There are about a dozen of Christian Catholic cities and
villages along the west coast of Sri Lanka. The only question that comes
into my mind is that why, with having all these places, the passion of
Christ was deep rooted in Duwa, Negombo?
Comparing
with other villages, Duwa is tiny as the palm of my hand. And I believe
that this is the main reason that Duwa community is living a better and
stronger Christian life than any other. The deep belief, independent
self governing and simple life as fishermen, and not having extra forces
effecting the life led this community to grow in faith and trust on God
and Christ and were always under the protection of mother Mary. The
Duwa village itself is so religious, that it seems like the Nazareth
home is converted into a village.
There
is not a single moment that you don’t see anyone inside the church. On
the way to work and the way back home, every single person in this
village step in to the church. With having the miraculous statue or
without it, they did go to church and it’s a part of their daily life.
When the statue was in Duwa they went more times and spend hours
praying. And this led the statue of Christ to be a part of their life.
Even
I was once served as the head priest in Duwa. In 1939, I was blessed
enough to be able to take part of the 100th anniversary celebration of
the miraculous statue of Christ. Since the very first day of my service,
I was able to notice that the people in Duwa have demonstrated a
different lifestyle comparing the other cities and villages. The old and
young’s are all not only keen about them, but also are keen on God.
Their life was so blend into the passion of Christ and it clearly
visible that the Christ living in their lives. Because it is a small
village, everyone lived together as one. At least one from each family
is played a role in passion play and that also had led this village to
live in peace. Even thou there were few problems aroused due to us being
humans, the Passion play were able to overcome this little issues and
gather entire community as one. The entire village comes together and
acts as a one big family during the Passover.
I
have never seen this much of faith and bond with God in any other
Christian catholic village here in Sri Lanka. I have never mentioned
anything about the history of Duwa Passion play in article. That is
because the whole world knows about it. But everything I have said here
about this village has not been told by anyone or at anyplace before.
This is a result of a research that I have done for years. I have also
found out that any person has his life blend into the Christian life
shall walk on a steady path towards the future. And improving the
abilities as such will allow you to receive the blessings of the
Christian body.
By
saying this, I’m not implying that the Duwa community will end up as
saints. But I say to you that a real Christian should always blend the
life of Christ into them. The meaning of life is to make it a success.
If this life does not have a use to either you or anyone else, then it’s
darker than the life of an animal. Man was made almost similar to a
life of an angel. And for that reason it is a good thing to live a great
life. And Duwa community has this great life.
Most
of the Christians in Sri Lanka like to watch Duwa traditional passion
play. Some out of devotion and some wanted to see what was written in
books. And this is a good thing.
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