16 Facts About Vesak

Vesak, known as Buddha Jayanti, Buddha Purnima and Buddha Day, is a holiday traditionally observed by Buddhists in South Asia and Southeast Asia as well as Tibet and Mongolia.

Name Vesak is derived from the Pali term or Sanskrit for the lunar month of Vaisakha, which is considered the month of Buddha's birth.

Vesak is a time for great joy and happiness, expressed not by pandering to one's appetites, but by concentrating on useful activities such as decorating and illuminating temples, or painting and creating exquisite scenes from the life of the Buddha for public dissemination.

Vesak advised everyone not to cry over the disintegration of the physical body but to regard his teachings as their teacher from then on, because only the truth of the Dhamma is eternal, and not subject to the law of change.

Vesak stressed that the way to pay homage to him was not merely by offering flowers, incense, and lights, but by truly and sincerely striving to follow his teachings.

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Exact date of Vesak is based on Asian lunisolar calendars and is primarily celebrated in Vaisakha, a month of both the Buddhist and Hindu calendars, hence the name Vesak.

In Thailand, Laos, Singapore and Indonesia, Vesak is celebrated on the fourteenth or fifteenth day of the fourth month in the Chinese lunar calendar.

In Myanmar, Vesak is known as the Full Moon Day of Kason, which is the second month in the traditional Burmese calendar.

In Singapore, Vesak Day was made a public holiday in 1955 after many public petitions, replacing Whit Monday.

Vesak, commonly known in Nepal as "Buddha Jayanti" is widely celebrated all across the country, predominantly, Lumbini – the birthplace of Buddha, and Swayambhu – the holy temple for Buddhists, known as "the Monkey Temple".

Vesak is celebrated as a religious and a cultural festival in Sri Lanka on the full moon of the lunar month of Vesak, for about one week, and this festival is often celebrated by people of different religions in Sri Lanka.

Vesak Day is an important festival for all Bengali Buddhists.

In Japan, Vesak celebrations include pouring, a sweet tea made from Hydrangea macrophylla, on statues.

From 1958 to 1975, Vesak was a national public holiday in South Vietnam.

The resolution internationally recognized the Day of Vesak to acknowledge the contributions that Lord Buddha and Buddhism have made for over two and a half millennia.

The Day of Vesak is an official holiday for the UN offices in many of the countries in South-East Asia.