Family Heirlooms

Denzil Jayasinghe describes the ancestral treasures he brought to Australia from his old country, Sri Lanka.

8 min readOct 10, 2021

How did you collect these heritage items?

I did not collect these items. My parents preserved them in our ancestral family home in Sri Lanka, where I grew up. I did not care for these, as many youths do when young . When my parents passed away, it was a moment of reckoning for me. In the house were all these items that they had taken care of. The reality of mortality was reverberating in my head. I wanted to pass these golden nuggets to my four children and their children as a tribute to the ancestors before them. So, I brought them to Australia.

What do these treasures mean to you?

We come to this world temporarily; we pass on, leaving our descendants. It is the legacy of the previous generation that we leave behind. Also, their stories of endeavour and grit. What more is of significance than these items with distinct stories? Although my ancestors are no longer here for me to touch, appreciate and experience, these items are here because they have touched them. They have held them with their hands. When I hold these objects, I hold my ancestors, knowing that one day, long past that they held these objects. My ancestors are reverence to me because I lived a fulfilling life because of their values and sacrifices. When, on a day to come, my descendants touch these items, they too would know that their ancestors have held them four or five generations earlier. Holding what our beloved ancestors have touched is the next best thing to honouring those who have come before us.

What are these wooden bobbins?

They belonged to my maternal grandmother, Dona Euphracia Hamine. The process of making beeralu, though fascinating to watch, requires a lot of time and effort. First, the pattern of the lace is hand-drawn on graph paper, marked with round headpins, and wrapped around a lace pillow. Afterwards, several lengths of thread are wound around wooden bobbins, and last of all, the threads are braided or woven around the pins, which ultimately form a finished piece of lace. It is a craft Sri Lankans had adopted from the Portuguese, who controlled Sri Lanka’s coast from 1505 to 1658.

These bobbins are of special significance to me because my maternal grandmother was diagnosed with a mental illness in her early thirties. It turned out much later that a thyroid deficiency caused her mental situation. It was considered a mental illness back in the day, and she spent most of her life in a mental asylum, an aberration of social justice. My mother grew up without her mother. I honour my maternal grandmother’s life and, indirectly, my mother’s denied childhood by preserving these valued wooden robbins that may have given much joy to my maternal grandmother before a wretched sickness denied her a fulfilling life.

What are these two trays?

These two trays are traditional Bulath Heppuwa trays that hold betel leaves and other commodities used for betel chewing. Betel chewing was a popular habit in ancient Sri Lanka. It was the norm in homes to greet visitors with a tray on which the betel leaves and other ingredients were arranged. The leaves would be artfully arranged in a circle facing outwards, with lime, tobacco and areca nuts in the centre. The type of tray indicated the family’s position on the social strata. The upper classes in Sri Lanka used tall brass trays with carved designs.

The tray on the left belonged to my paternal grandmother, Dona Barbara Saram. Barbara used this tray to serve her customers in her shop, which she ran after she was widowed when my father was an adolescent.

The one on the right belonged to my maternal grandfather, Don Lewis Jayawardhana and his wife, Dona Eupracia Hamine. They bought it when they visited Talawila, a venerated church for Catholics, located by the side of a beautiful beach in North West Sri Lanka.

What are these two leather cases?

They are measuring tapes from the early 20th century. The one on the left belonged to Lewis Jayawardane, a school principal of the day. and the one on the right belonged to my paternal grandfather, Don Joranis Jayasinghe, a trader by profession. Both were made in England and have woven linen tapes, brass winders and hand-stitched leather cases.

What are these two items, a bell and a casket?

The bell belonged to my father, Don Thomas Jayasinghe. He used it in his office to draw attention to the messengers in his office.

The casket is a jewellery case that belonged to my paternal grandmother, Dona Barbara Saram. She stored her valuable jewellery and savings in this. She did not have much value, but she raised a fine son, to whom I was fortunate to be born.

What are these religious figures?

These are statues revered by the Catholics. My ancestors were Catholic, and religion was central to family life. In the middle of our home where I grew up was a box hung high on the wall that held the revered statues. On the left is St. Anthony of Padua. The cross with Jesus is in the middle, and on the right is a statue of Mary, Jesus’s mother. Every evening, the whole family knelt and recited the rosary in front of these statues, a ritual not to be missed. The statues came from both sides of my family, St. Anthony’s was from my mother’s side of the family, and the rest were from my paternal grandmother’s.

The Catholic faith was the bedrock of my parents and grandparents. It was in their DNA. They had blind faith in their religion and followed its rituals seriously. They did everything Catholic, Sunday masses, daily rosaries, novenas, and ceremonies and went on pilgrimages to holy shrines dedicated to their favourite saints in Sri Lanka.

What is this? something I have no idea about!

This is a small pestle and tiny mortar. The pestle was used to break areca nuts used to chew betel. This belonged to Barbara Saram, my paternal grandmother.

Describe these crockery and cutlery items.

The majority of these items belonged to my mother, Susan Jayawardane. Side plates, main plates and the cutlery. They were made in England. Both sets of my grandparents and parents used them in their dining. Some of our neighbours were not as affluent (relatively) as us, they regularly borrowed our crockery, when they had visitors.

What is this big pot?

This is a storage pot used for storing rice. This belonged to Barbara Saram, aka Kadayamma, my paternal grandmother. She stored the rice on sale in her shop in this pot made of copper.

What are these two objects?

These two storage measurement cups belonged to Barbara, my paternal grandmother. She used them in her shop. The one on the left is called Seru. The one on the right is a small measure, a Hundu. Four Hundus made one Seru, indigenous measurements of Sri Lanka. These were used to measure rice, the staple diet of Sri Lanka. Both measuring cups are made of copper.

What are these three unconnected objects?

The elephant on the left is made of Ivory, a rare wood in Sri Lanka. My father, Thomas Jayasinghe, bought it for me as a child. Back in the day, it had two tusks, and the elephant’s legs were undamaged. It was originally intended to be a display item, but I played with it and used it as a toy. It became a family handloom and the only toy I have of my childhood left. The object in the middle is a flowerpot, where fresh garden flowers were placed and kept next to the religious statues. The item on the right is an oil lamp, where coconut oil and a cloth wick soaked in oil were lit, fed by coconut oil and provided a lasting light. The flower pot and the coconut oil lamp belonged to my maternal grandfather, Don Lewis Jayawardane.

What is this glass pot?

It is the most surprising item in this collection. I use it as a flowerpot today in my home in Sydney, but it is originally from a cooker run by kerosene oil that belonged to my paternal grandmother, Barbara. It was made in Sri Lanka back in the sixties. She liked cooking with wood but also had a kerosene-powered cooker. I salvaged the glass container that stored kerosene oil in the middle of two burners in that cooker.

This metal plate and cup?

Yes, kids were not trusted with valuable china back in the day. They were served with metal plates and cups until they grew up confident enough to hold ceramic plates and cups. These are what I ate and drank as a child. It shows the relative uplift of the standard of living in my lifetime. Nowadays, metal crockery is used only during camping trips in the wild. You can see the beatings on this plate and the cup. My mother did not trust us to handle her valued crockery.