Sri Lanka Refugees celebrate All Souls' Day behind barbed wire

(November 05, 2009) Thousands of displaced Sri Lankan Catholics attended specially organized All Souls' Day Masses in refugee camps and prayed for those who died in the decades-long civil war. Refugees want to tend their loved ones' graves on the special day dedicated to the dead, said Catholic priests visiting the camps. However, these graves are far from the camps which are surrounded by barbed wire, and refugees are not allowed to leave until the search for Tamil Tiger rebels is over and land mines cleared from around villages. Instead, on the morning of November 2, prayer leaders in Arunachalam camp in northern Sri Lanka cleared an open area for the celebration of Mass. An altar -- a table covered with a cloth -- was prepared, as well as a book in which people wrote down the names of about 1,500 people killed in the civil war of Sri Lanka. Father Ruban Fernando of Mannar diocese celebrated the Mass at the camp. He read the names of the dead and prayed for them, some of whom were not Catholics. He expressed that some of the refugees "are not sure whether their loved ones are alive or dead," adding that many shed tears throughout the Mass. "I consoled them," he added. On All Souls' Day, Catholics in the country usually visit cemeteries from early morning to evening. There they clean the graves, lay flowers, light candles, pray and give alms. There were 2000 Catholics among the 20000 people in the camp. Father Anthony Victor Sosai, vicar general of Mannar diocese said the military has permitted eight priests to hold All Souls' Day Masses in some 20 camps. Under increasing pressure from the international community regarding the continued detention of the displaced, President Mahinda Rajapaksa recently said he expected everyone in the camps to be resettled by the end of January. So far only 50,000 out of a total of 280,000 civilians have been allowed to leave the camps.