The story
Mihintale Poson Festival in Mihintale
Mihintale's Poson festival centers on the physical pilgrimage up its stone stairway, retracing the site where the monk Mahinda converted King Devanampiyatissa over two thousand years ago. Pilgrims, often barefoot, visit shrines including the Ambasthala Dagoba and the Aradhana Gala outcrop, making offerings along the climb. Free dansal food stalls line the route, and the hill draws its largest crowds of the year on this day.
A stone stairway of over eighteen hundred steps, some cut directly into the granite hillside more than two thousand years ago, carries pilgrims to the summit of Mihintale each Poson full moon, retracing the path where Sri Lankan Buddhism is traditionally said to have begun.