A Glimpse Into Village Traditions

Do you go to the dotta pilai? (The villagers go outside to pee, that call- (dotta pilai?

Unknown stories about pilai!!!!

"If you want to go to the dotta pilai at night, call me"

When we say this story, today it means if you need to go to the toilet at night, but has anyone thought about what this dotta pilai means!

Door to the door - dotta pilai. Here the door does not mean the door of the house! The part of the yard outside the house.

Then what is a pilai?

A pilai is the floor that is made higher than the ground level when building a house. This word is derived from the word palakaya, which means a platform.

Even though pilai is far from our homes, these are the places where pilai are still found.

A pilai built for a shop - kadapilai.

A pilai built for a market (trade) - salapilai.

Let's now look at the types of pilai in a house. In those days, when there was not much furniture made of wood or other materials, all the beds, chairs, and tables were made of pila.

1 Gepila

The part that is built higher than the ground level to build a house. Almost all the other pila in a house are built on this pila.

2 Vatapila

The pila that is made to strengthen the walls of the house, and is attached to the wall on the outside of the house. This is now called Kaiyoruwa/ Kairuwa.

3 Agupila

The part of the ground that is under the corner of the roof that protrudes from the house is also slightly higher than the ground. That is the agupila. Today, this is made of cement.

"Our men go to the pila,

and light a fire,

and lie in the agupila until dawn,

and come back in the morning to guard the pila"

This is what the village women said about the husbands who went to the pila and lay in the agupila.

This poem tells the story of the misfortune that befell such a person!!!!

"Oh God, I have lost my life

The thieves took the mat from the garden

When I went home, I cried and argued

The person who gave the mat was my relative, Siyoya"

If the garden was guarded, how did the thieves take the mat that was there?

But not all husbands are like that. A husband who took the mat from the garden and went to the garden said this!

"I take the mat from the garden and go to the garden

And the mat flies there

I remember the two hands that were woven

Then I read poems when my heart is sad"

4 Door gate

The entrance to a house is the gate. Since the house is built quite high, a step was made near the door to climb into this house. That is the door gate.

5 High gate/pillow gate

The high gate was made to sleep in the porch of the house. It was built against the wall, about three feet high and three to four feet wide from the ground level. However, it did not have legs like a bed. This is what the Kotta Pila was called.

6 Mitipila

The Mitipila was made long like a ladder to climb to the top.

7 Pil Kada/Pil Kote

The part like a porch outside the door is the Pil Kote. That is what the Pil Kote means.

A Pil Kadak is a part of the earth that has been raised and prepared anywhere.

8 Pil Talawwa

This means the Pil Talawa. A place where the earth has been raised and leveled.

9 Madupila

The part in front of an old house, where only the roof is built on top of the house without walls, and which is used as a shed, is called Madupila. That part of the Madupila is Madupila. That's where guests often sit!!!!

10 Happa Pila/ Kudagahana Pila

This part of the Pila outside the kitchen door is reserved for the family only. The word Kudagahana here means sitting with a nail. The people of the house used to cook in the kitchen because of the Pila.

11 Lippila/Boku Pila/Gini Pila

Some village houses built a stove about a foot high. That's what they call Lippila/Boku Pila/Gini Pila. They made two or three holes at the floor level of the house to put the wood and called it a stove

10 Pilikanna

Pile corner- Pilikona- Pilikanna. That means the last part of the stove outside the wall.

There are others in this group who know about Pila. I hope they will also have their opinions.