evidence: The Kandy Perahera in Sri Lanka is not only one of the oldest rituals in Buddhism, but one of the oldest extant rituals in all of Asia. "Perahera" means procession. Processional music and dancing is a marker of antiquity because some of the earliest ritual processions grew from stationary artists starting to move. It follows that dance steps and sequences, as well as musical modalities, evolved to suit a large moving mass of people. The Kandy Perahera is one of the largest rituals of processing people on the planet, featuring elephants, drummers, monks, dancers, swordsmen, musicians, acrobats, fire-handlers, and whip-crackers clearing the way. It is Buddhism as ancient, exotic, and integrated with local belief as one can find. [...] Today, the Kandy Esala Perahera continues its annual performance, although the caste structures are less strictly enforced and represented. Older, smaller perahera rituals in more remote communities reflect older social structures than those in cities and towns. The glory of Kandyan dance and the splendor of the Perahera have only grown in significance. Kandyan dance is the top cultural export of Sri Lanka, and the Kandy Esala Perahera is the top tourist and pilgrimage event in the country. It is showered in superlatives: the oldest Buddhist ritual! The grandest Buddhist ritual of the ancient world! The longest ritual procession in Asia! We can say with some certainty that it is the Buddhist ritual with the most elephants, and that says a lot about where it is from and how very old it is.