Esala Perahera is one of Asia’s most spectacular festivals, with all the colors and dressings.. Held for 10 days during late summer’s full moon (around July to August), this Sri Lankan Buddhist tradition attracts a major portion of Sri Lanka’s population to the lakeside capital of Kandy. The procession includes fire-juggling acrobats, banners, decorated and neon-lighted elephants, traditional dancers, musicians, palanquins, whip crackers, torch bearers and thousands of barefoot pilgrims and swordsmen. And it all centers around the sacred Tooth Relic of Buddha.