Rooted in Buddhist teachings, Sri Lanka's roadside dansal offer free food and drinks to strangers – and this years, amid rising costs and extreme heat, the tradition feels especially relevant.
斯里兰卡路边的 dansal 植根于佛教教义，向陌生人免费提供食物和饮料；而今年，在生活成本上涨和极端高温之下，这一传统显得格外切合当下。
When I was a little girl growing up in Sri Lanka, I always looked forward to the month of May.
小时候我在斯里兰卡长大，总是盼着五月的到来。
That was when my father and I would decorate octagon bamboo lanterns to celebrate Vesak – the sacred day marking the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha – and when the first dansal of the season would appear on the streets.
那时，我和父亲会装饰八角竹灯笼来庆祝卫塞节，也就是纪念佛陀诞生、悟道和圆寂的神圣日子；也是这一季第一批 dansal 出现在街头的时候。
Dansal are Sri Lanka's roadside generosity stalls: makeshift kiosks and improvised counters where people offer food, drinks and other essentials to passersby, free of charge.
Dansal 是斯里兰卡路边的施善摊点：人们在临时小亭和简易柜台前，向路人免费提供食物、饮料和其他生活必需品。
Rooted in the Buddhist practice of dana – giving without expecting anything in return – they pop up during poya, the island's monthly full-Moon holidays, most typically during the festival season from May to July.
它们植根于佛教的“布施”实践，即不求回报地给予；在斯里兰卡每月满月假日 poya 期间常会出现，最典型的是在五月至七月的节庆季。
The dansal of my childhood are etched in my memory: men and women dressed in white queuing for boiled cassava; children waving large flags to stopped passing vehicles; and tiny cups of sweet passionfruit drinks being passed around when public buses crawled to a stop.
童年里的 dansal 深深刻在我的记忆中：身穿白衣的男女排队领取煮木薯；孩子们挥舞大旗拦下过往车辆；公共巴士缓缓停下时，一小杯一小杯甜百香果饮料被传递分发。
But this year, the tradition feels particularly resonant.
但今年，这一传统显得格外有共鸣。
In recent months, temperatures across parts of Sri Lanka have climbed as high as 39C, while long dry spells have strained water supplies in some urban areas.
近几个月来，斯里兰卡部分地区气温已攀升至39摄氏度，而持续的干旱天气也让一些城市地区的供水承受压力。
At the same times, fuel, electricity and food costs have risen sharply following energy price hikes earlier this year, making daily lives harder for many Sri Lankans.
与此同时，在今年早些时候能源价格上涨之后，燃料、电力和食品成本大幅攀升，使许多斯里兰卡人的日常生活更加艰难。
Against that backdrop, even small acts of public generosity carry new weight.
在这样的背景下，即便是小小的公共善举也有了新的分量。
As more people have been forced to walk or rely on public transport just as Colombo's sweltering March temperatures arrived, businesses across the capital tapped into the spirit of dansal by setting up free drinking-water stalls for passersby.
随着科伦坡三月酷热天气到来，越来越多人被迫步行或依赖公共交通，首都各地的商家便借鉴 dansal 的精神，为路人设立免费饮水摊。
Just before the Sinhala and Tamil New Year in April – one of the country's biggest festivals where families gather for week-long celebrations – biscuit company Munchee distributed 25,000 train tickets at Colombo's railway station to ease the financial burden of holiday travel.
就在四月僧伽罗和泰米尔新年前夕，饼干公司 Munchee 在科伦坡火车站发放了2.5万张火车票，以减轻节日出行的经济负担；这个新年是该国最盛大的节日之一，家人们会团聚并庆祝一周。
"You'll see more practical dansal [now], like handing out rice and vegetables," says Joanne Louise, a British traveller who spends several months of the year in Sri Lanka with her Sri Lankan husband.
“你现在会看到更多实用型的 dansal，比如分发大米和蔬菜，”英国旅行者乔安妮·路易丝说。她每年都会和斯里兰卡籍丈夫在斯里兰卡住上几个月。
"Since the heat wave, people now feel it is more important to look after each other."
“自从热浪来袭后，人们现在觉得彼此照应更加重要。”
During Vesak this year, local communities are also offerings free notebooks for students and handing out dry rations for pregnant women.
今年卫塞节期间，当地社区还为学生免费提供笔记本，并向孕妇发放干粮配给。
For Dr Rita Langer, senior lecturer in Buddhist Studies at the University of Bristol, who has been visiting Sri Lanka for more than 35 years, that immediate responsiveness is of little surprise.
对布里斯托大学佛教研究高级讲师丽塔·兰格博士来说，这种即时回应并不令人意外；她访问斯里兰卡已有35年多。
"Sri Lankans are very much aware of the people around them and what they need, more than [in the West] where we outsource that to charities," she says.
她说：“斯里兰卡人非常关注身边的人以及他们需要什么，这一点比西方更明显；在西方，我们把这些事外包给慈善机构。”
"Sometimes you get an eye optician doing free eye tests all night, a hairdresser giving free haircuts or people giving sanitary pads to a nunnery."
“有时你会看到眼科验光师整晚免费做视力检查，理发师免费理发，或者有人把卫生巾送到尼姑庵。”
During Sri Lanka's economic crisis in 2022, people handed out snacks and drinks to those waiting hours in fuel queues.
在2022年斯里兰卡经济危机期间，人们向那些在燃油队伍中等待数小时的人分发小吃和饮料。
And the selflessness doesn't only happen on home soil: earlier this year, Sri Lanka's consulate in Mumbai served chilled drinks to people struggling through the city's extreme summer heat.
这种无私并不只发生在本国土地上：今年早些时候，斯里兰卡驻孟买领事馆向在该市极端夏季高温中艰难支撑的人们提供了冰镇饮料。
"Dansal are a manifestation of the spirit of generosity that comes from a society like ours, which is about the wider community.
“Dansal 是慷慨精神的一种体现，这种精神来自像我们这样的社会，关注的是更广泛的共同体。
It ties to our non-individualistic way of living," says social researcher Amalini De Sayrah.
它与我们非个人主义的生活方式相连，”社会研究员阿玛利尼·德·赛拉说。
According to Sri Lanka's historical chronicle Mahavamsa, the tradition goes back as far as the 1st Century BCE.
根据斯里兰卡历史编年史《大史》记载，这一传统最早可追溯到公元前1世纪。
It became more formalised during Sri Lanka's Buddhist reformist movement in the 19th and 20th Centuries, when wealthy Buddhist families and temple communities set up rest houses and food stalls for pilgrims travelling to holy shrines, offering meals, drinks and shelter as an act of dana.
在19世纪和20世纪斯里兰卡佛教改革运动期间，这一传统变得更加制度化。当时，富裕的佛教家庭和寺庙社区为前往圣地朝拜的香客设立休息屋和食物摊，提供饭食、饮料和住所，作为一种布施行为。
Over time, that ritualised giving shifted from pilgrimage routes into neighbourhoods, streets and train stations, becoming one of Sri Lanka's most recognisable forms of public generosity.
随着时间推移，这种仪式化的给予从朝圣路线扩展到社区、街道和火车站，成为斯里兰卡最具辨识度的公共慷慨形式之一。
"In Buddhism, we learn that dana during difficult times is the most valued, because it means that your compassion is not confined to the abundance you have," says Neluwe Gnanawimala Thero at the Mahamevnawa Buddhist Monastery near Ella, which hosts a daily dansala with the help of young volunteers that's often visited by visitors who come for the temple's meditation sessions.
“在佛教中，我们懂得，艰难时期的布施最为珍贵，因为这意味着你的慈悲并不局限于你富足有余的时候，”埃拉附近 Mahamevnawa 佛寺的 Neluwe Gnanawimala 长老说；这座寺院在年轻志愿者的帮助下每天举办 dansala，常有前来参加寺院冥想课程的游客到访。
Today, that spirit cuts across ethnic and religious lines.
如今，这种精神跨越了族群和宗教界限。
Muslims and Christians also host stalls during Vesak, while similar traditions of communal giving appear during Hindu festivals.
卫塞节期间，穆斯林和基督徒也会设摊，而类似的集体施予传统也会出现在印度教节日中。
The offerings vary widely, from tea and biscuit stalls to full-blown bath (rice and curry) dansal, and many people go "dansal sightseeing", hopping from one stall to another with friends and family.
提供的食物种类十分丰富，从供应茶和饼干的小摊，到完整供应 bath（米饭配咖喱）的 dansal 都有，许多人还会和亲友一起去“dansal 观光”，从一个摊位逛到另一个摊位。
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During the holiday season, visitors will find dansal near temples, along pilgrimage sites and at railway stations, typically serving snacks and refreshments throughout the day and full meals during lunch and dinner.
节日期间，游客会在寺庙附近、朝圣地点沿途以及火车站看到 dansal，那里通常全天供应小吃和饮品，并在午餐和晚餐时段提供正餐。
In Colombo, they may cluster around week-long Vesak zones and illuminated thorana (pandals that depict stories of Buddha's past lives); elsewhere, they can be as simple as a table outside someone's home or a little kiosk offering meticulously packed takeway lunch parcels.
在科伦坡，它们可能聚集在持续一周的卫塞节区域和点灯装饰的 thorana（描绘佛陀前世故事的临时牌楼）周围；在其他地方，它们可能只是某户人家门外的一张桌子，或是一个售卖精心打包外带午餐的小亭子。
During Poson full Moon holiday in June, there are similar festive zones in and around the sacred city Anuradhapura, nearly a four-hour train journey north of Colombo.
6 月的 Poson 满月节期间，在圣城阿努拉德普勒及其周边也会出现类似的节庆区域；这座城市位于科伦坡以北，乘火车将近四小时可达。
Outside the Ruwanweli Maha Seya stupa, a dome-shaped monument where Buddha's relics are enshrined, the Isipathana bath dansala serves lunch every day.
在供奉佛陀舍利的穹顶形纪念建筑 Ruwanweli Maha Seya 佛塔外，Isipathana bath dansala 每天供应午餐。
Devotees also turn up with fresh flowers and fragrant incense to share with others at holy shrines.
信众也会带着鲜花和芬芳的香来到圣地，与他人分享。
When I was stopped by a group of young children this past Labour Day (1 May) and handed a cup of sago porridge, I was reminded how even the smallest act of giving can bring strangers together.
今年劳动节（5 月 1 日），一群小孩子拦下我，递给我一杯西米粥，这让我想起，即便是最微小的施予之举，也能把陌生人连接在一起。
"If you visit Sri Lanka about the time of dansal, you are part of it," says Langer.
“如果你在 dansal 举办期间来到斯里兰卡，你就是其中的一部分，”兰格说。
"It's the spirit that nobody should go hungry."
“它体现的是一种不应让任何人挨饿的精神。”
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