Location: Tropical dry-zone forest of Sri Lanka.
The indigenous people of Sri Lanka are known as Veddah, but call themselves Wanniyalaeto, or "Forest Beings." Through the Wanniyalaeto have coexisted with Sinhalese and Tamil settlers on the island for thousands of years, they have maintained a distinct cultural identity. Until recently they harvested raw materials from the forest and traded with their Sinhalese and Tamil neighbors.
Since Sri Lanka gained independence in 1948, the Wanniyalaeto have been under pressure to acculturate to Sri Lankan culture under the rhetoric of development. In 1983 the Sri Lankan government designated their last remaining hunting grounds as a national park and relocated the Wanniyalaeto to villages with rice paddies. Many who have tried to return to the forest to hunt and forage have had their supplies confiscated and a few have been arrested. According to a Wanniyalaeto elder, within one generation their forest-based culture will be lost.
Subsistence: Traditionally, the Wanniyalaeto practiced shifting cultivation (chena). Men and women gathered meat, eggs, fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts, herbs, and honey. Women gathered a greater proportion of the family's daily food supply. Men made offerings to animal spirits and composed songs for them before hunting. With the exception of pots and iron knives, almost all of their supplies were made from materials harvested from the forest.
Social organization: They have a matrilineal exogamous clan organization that reckons descent through the female line back to their mother-ancestor, the yaka-princess Kuveni. However, they were forced to begin using the father's family name in 1989 when Sri Lanka passed legislation that required the Wanniyalaeto to obtain marriage licenses.
Religion: Because the Wanniyalaeto have had to abandon many of their traditional practices, spiritual life is the cornerstone of Wanniyalaeto identity today. Wanniyalaeto spiritual life revolves around Na Yakku, the spirits of deceased relatives. the Na Yakku are intimately tied with daily life. They help their living kin to find game and honey. When angered, they can become malevolent, so the Wanniyalaeto take special care to provide for them and perform special rituals to placate them. In their belief system, the efforts of humans are secondary to the actions of the spirits in shaping everyday life.
The Na Yakku are guided by Kande Yakku, the Mountain Spirit. Thus, the Wanniyalaeto have a special connection with stone. For them, where there is stone, there is spirit.
Though this page has been carefully researched, the author does not claim expertise on Wanniyalaeto culture.
Please send questions, comments, and corrections to emuseum@mnsu.edu and include the URL.
If you are Wanniyalaeto, your feedback is much appreciated.
References:
Dharmadasa, K. N. O.
1990 The Vanishing Aborigines: Sri Lanka's Veddas in Transition. Vikas Publishing.
Hettiarachchi, Kumudini
2007 Row Over Where the Veddah Roams: Veddah access to Maduru Oya National Park: How far should the State go? The Sunday Times
Online, November 18, 2007. Electronic document: http://www.sundaytimes.lk/071118/Plus/plus0001.html. Accessed 3/17/08.
Stegeborn, Wiveca
2004 Nomadic Peoples 8(1):43-63.
Living Heritage Trust of Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka's Veddas or Wanniyalaeto. Website: http://vedda.org/index.htm. Accessed 3/17/08.
Written by Melissa Lorentz, 2008