Buddhist festivals commemorating special events in the life of the Buddha go back thousands of years. On Vesak Day, Buddhists all over the world commemorate the major events in the life of the Buddha: his birth, enlightenment, and the passing into nirvana.
In modern times, in 1950, during the first conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists held in Sri Lanka, the group of delegates from 27 countries passed the decision to celebrate Vesak as the Buddha’s birthday throughout much of the Buddhist world.
Due to different lunar calendars, however, the Gregorian calendar date for Vesak differs from country to country within Asia. Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and India all celebrate Vesak on the first full moon in the month of May. Singapore, Thailand, Laos, and Indonesia celebrate Vesak on the fourteenth or fifteenth day of the fourth month in the Chinese lunar calendar. In the Tibetan calendar, it is celebrated on the full moon day of the fourth lunar month. In Tibetan, it is called Saga Dawa Düchen and is considered one of the four great annual festivals.
The United Nations General Assembly recognized Vesak Day as an international holiday in a 1999 resolution to “acknowledge the contribution that Buddhism, one of the oldest religions in the world, has made for over two and a half millennia and continues to make to the spirituality of humanity.”
Buddhist devotees and communities gather during Vesak celebrations to perform meritorious activities such as reciting the words of the Buddha (Pali suttas, Sanskrit sutras). Other popular activities include life release ceremonies, offering freedom to fish, birds, animals or insects who have been held in captivity. Often practitioners, particularly in Theravāda Buddhist countries, will dress in white clothing and take the eight precepts, observing humility, contentment, simplicity, and ethics. A great majority of practitioners observe vegetarian diets on this sacred day. Many lay devotees will gather at monasteries beginning at dawn. Offerings of flowers, lights, incense, and food are lavish and presented with great care and devotion. Temples encourage lay devotees to join in meditation, and often ceremonies take place where Buddha images are bathed with saffron water. Vesak Day is also an important occasion for making a pilgrimage to sacred places—especially the eight great sites associated with Shakyamuni Buddha’s life.
