Senkoolaya (Mace) Senkoolaya (Sinhala: සෙංකෝලය) is the Mace that symbolizes the authority of the Sri Lankan Parliament. Without the Mace, the Parliament can not sit and no proceedings are taken place. It is also an indispensable feature of a number of parliamentary ceremonies including the election of a new Speaker (Fernando, 2018). The Mace of the Parliament The Mace currently used in the Parliament was gifted to the Ceylon House of Representatives on 11 November 1949 by the British House of Commons (Fernando, 2018; Library of Parliament, 2019). A delegation led by Major James Milner, Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons handed over the Mace to the then Serjeant-At-Arms, M. Ismail, at a meeting of the House of Representatives presided by Sir Francis Molamure, the then Speaker (Fernando, 2018). Design The Mace was created based on drawings prepared by renowned artist S. P. Charles (1916-1981) and his colleagues attached to the Art Department of the Technical College (Fernando, 2018). The design of it was…
