ABSTRACT
This chapter foregrounds how young people produce, contest, and negotiate culturally transmitted patterns of thought and practice. I apply this kind of inquiry to scrutinize the nexus between religious and non-religious behaviour of Sri Lankan youth. By focusing on ‘youth religiosity’ I will explore how young people interlink religious representations, practices and emotions with quotidian activities during their ritual journeys to Sri Pada, one of the most popular pilgrimage sites among the young people in the country. My ethnographic account explores the ways in which young Sir Lankans (trans-)form a religious heritage and assimilate it into their “lifeworlds” whilst journeying to this sacred site conceived as mere ‘pleasure seekers’ who engage only in non-religious activities. I argue, however, that their journeys combine religious and non-religious activities and expectations.
