State Christmas Festival 2017 to be held in Trincomalee

The State Christmas Festival 2017 will take place on December 16th at the Hindu Cultural Center in Trincomalee.

This annual event is organised by the Department of Christian Affairs under the Ministry of Tourism Development and Christian Religious Affairs in association with the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of Sri Lanka.

President Maithripala Sirisena will be the Chief Guest at this year’s State Christmas Festival while Tourism Development and Christian Religious Affairs Minister John Amaratunga will be the Guest of Honour. Proceedings are due to commence at 2:30p.m.

Each year the state festival is held at a different location represented by the Bishop’s Conference. In 2015 it was held in Jaffna and in 2016 in Negombo while this year it is being held in multi-ethnic Trincomalee in order to foster peaceful cohabitation among different communities in keeping with the message of Christmas.
As part of the event, 750 economically challenged families in the Trincomalee region will be presented with dry rations, school and other requirements.