Cinnamon in Sri Lankan Culture: Myths, Medicine & Traditions

🌿 Cinnamon in Sri Lankan Culture: Myths, Medicine & Traditions

In Sri Lanka, Ceylon cinnamon—known locally as “kurundu”—is more than a spice. For centuries, it has been woven into the island’s healing systems, religious rituals, folk beliefs, and daily life. While globally treasured for its delicate sweetness, back home, cinnamon is revered as a symbol of vitality, purity, and ancestral wisdom.

From sacred texts and temple rituals to kitchen remedies and village myths, cinnamon has quietly infused Sri Lankan life with its golden scent and enduring spirit.

🕉️ Cinnamon in Ayurveda: Ancient Medicine of the Island

Sri Lanka’s Ayurvedic tradition, stretching back thousands of years, treats cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum) as a healing powerhouse. Called “twak” in Sanskrit, it is one of the most commonly prescribed botanicals in classical Ayurveda.

🌺 A Warming Healer

Cinnamon is categorized as a warming herb (ushna virya), especially effective in balancing the Vata and Kapha doshas. It is used to:

• Stimulate digestion and relieve bloating

• Improve blood circulation and warm the extremities

• Clear respiratory blockages and ease coughs

• Regulate blood sugar and metabolism

• Detoxify the system in seasonal transitions

In Ayurvedic pharmacopeia, it appears in numerous kashayams (decoctions), powders, oils, and balms—prescribed by traditional Sri Lankan physicians (veda mahattayas) for a wide range of ailments from colds to joint pain.

🔸 “Kurundu” is seen as an enhancer of ojas—the vital energy responsible for strength, immunity, and mental clarity.

📜 Cinnamon in Folklore: “Healing Gold” of the Villages

Cinnamon has long been considered a sacred gift in Sri Lankan folklore, often referred to as “suwanda tharu”—the “fragrant star”. Passed down through oral tradition and myth, its spiritual and healing qualities are central to village life.

✨ Cinnamon as “Healing Gold”

The term “brown gold” or “healing gold” captures both its economic value and its magical aura. Folktales speak of:

• Cinnamon being a divine gift, once reserved only for royalty

• Bark and smoke used to ward off evil spirits from homes and children

• Healing teas of cinnamon and coriander, brewed by elders during seasonal transitions

• Fragrant bark bundles placed near the ill for spiritual protection and recovery

“Cinnamon wasn’t just a spice—it was protection, prosperity, and purity, all rolled into one.” — Sri Lankan village elder

One of the oldest fables tells of a mythical cinnamon bird that built its nest from bark fragments on remote cliffs—so precious that it could only be retrieved at great risk. Such stories reflect the awe and reverence Sri Lankans have held for this humble bark.

🛕 Temple Offerings & Ritual Use

Cinnamon plays a quiet but sacred role in Buddhist and Hindu ceremonies across the island.

🔸 In Buddhist Rituals:

• Cinnamon bark or oil is burned as incense to purify the air and enhance meditation

• It is placed near Bodhi trees and relics as a fragrant offering

• The soothing aroma is believed to cleanse negative energies and focus the mind

🔸 In Hindu Traditions:

• Cinnamon paste is used during poojas to invoke blessings and good health

• It is included in Ayurvedic purification rituals such as Panchakarma

• During housewarming rituals (vasthu shanti), burning cinnamon bark is used to sanctify the home

🔸 Festivals and Ceremonial Life:

At the Seenigama Devol Temple in southern Sri Lanka, the first cinnamon quills of the harvest are offered to the deity during an annual ceremony, asking for blessings and protection for the coming year.

Cinnamon is also used in bridal herbal baths, along with turmeric and sandalwood, believed to enhance beauty and bring good fortune.

🍵 Everyday Traditions: Cinnamon in Homes & Healing

Beyond temples and myths, cinnamon is a daily ally in Sri Lankan households.

• Kiribath (milk rice), watalappam, and traditional sweets often feature its fragrant touch

• Cinnamon tea is a go-to remedy for colds, coughs, and fatigue

• Oil made from cinnamon leaves is rubbed on sore joints or massaged into the scalp

• During monsoon transitions, many families prepare home-brewed cinnamon tonics to boost immunity

In rural and urban communities alike, the knowledge of cinnamon’s uses—culinary, spiritual, and medicinal—is passed from one generation to the next.

🌾 A Cultural Legacy Preserved

Even as modernity and globalization reshape Sri Lankan life, Ceylon cinnamon remains a living legacy. Its harvest, deeply connected to family heritage, and its continued role in healing and rituals, speak to a cultural wisdom that endures.

Organizations like the Cinnamon Training Academy now work to preserve not only the techniques of cinnamon harvesting but also the cultural and spiritual context that surrounds it.

• Cinnamon is not merely harvested—it is honored.

• It is not just consumed—it is respected.

• It is not only exported—it is lived.

✨ More Than a Spice

Ceylon cinnamon’s journey—from sacred forest bark to global culinary treasure—began in Sri Lanka’s temples, kitchens, gardens, and healing rooms. Its role in Ayurveda, its mystical symbolism, and its place in everyday tradition continue to make it one of the island’s most revered natural gifts.

In Sri Lankan culture, cinnamon is not just a spice. It is medicine. It is myth. It is memory.