The Catholic Burgher Union is an organisation of

Portuguese Burghers The Portuguese Burghers are an ethnic group in Sri Lanka, of mixed Portuguese and Sri Lankan descent. They are largely Roman Catholic and some still speak the Sri Lanka Indo-Portuguese language, a creole based on Portuguese mixed with Sinhales ...

(persons of mixed Portuguese and Sri Lankan descent) in the town of Batticaloa, Sri Lanka. In the modern era, the Union played a strong role in the preservation of the Portuguese Burgher culture, despite their economically disadvantaged position. Researchers in the 1960s noted that the meetings of the Union were still held in Portuguese, with the exception of the minutes, as they were read from written records, and Sri Lankan Portuguese was not used as a written language. In the 1980s, despite Burger

immigration to Australia The Australian continent was first settled when ancestors of Indigenous Australians arrived via the islands of Maritime Southeast Asia and New Guinea over 50,000 years ago. European colonisation began in 1788 with the establishment of a ...

, the Union still numbered some 2,000 speakers of Sri Lankan Portuguese, making them the largest community still speaking the dialect. The Union continued to maintain Portuguese Burgher traditions, including promoting traditional music and dance, By the 2000s (decade), however, the Union was described as struggling financially to be able to produce its English newsletter, with Portuguese extracts.

References

{{Reflist Batticaloa Burgher people Lusophone culture Portuguese diaspora in Asia Clubs and societies in Sri Lanka 1920s establishments in Ceylon

See also

References