Latitude, longitude and time zone 13.08, 80.27
Asia/Kolkata · UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place.
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A tithi that ends at dusk in Chennai can still be running at dusk a thousand kilometres west, which moves the day. Sunrise and sunset here are computed for the place above.
When it falls next
Sri Lanka calendar, computed for Chennai
- Wednesday, 19 May 2027
- Monday, 8 May 2028
- Sunday, 27 May 2029
Where Vesak Poya falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 19 May
- 2028: 8 May, 10 days earlier
- 2029: 27 May, 18 days later
The dates, year by year
Sri Lanka calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The full moon of the Sinhala month of Vesak, one of the twelve Poya days the island keeps. Every Poya is a day of sil: white is worn to the temple, the eight precepts are taken before a monk, and the day is passed in listening, reciting and meditating rather than in work. This one is kept for the birth, the enlightenment and the passing into parinirvana together, the greatest of the twelve, kept over two days with lanterns, thorana and dansal.
- Deity
- Buddha
- Kind
- Observance Days marked, watched or begun, without a fast or a feast of their own.
Significance
On this Poya the day is kept as sil rather than as a festival: the precepts at dawn, the silence and the meditation, and not the lanterns and the crowds that fill the evening. Many families send the young ones out to the dansal while the elders keep the whole day at the temple in white. The teaching of the three moments, birth, awakening and passing, is taken as a single lesson in impermanence. The Mahavamsa also puts the landing of Vijaya, the first king of the Sinhala line, on this full moon, so it is the island's own anniversary as well.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Vesak Poya: how it is kept
Keep ready
- white clothes
- fresh flowers
- a lamp with coconut oil and wick
- incense
- a vessel of clean water
- a mat for meditation
The steps
0 of 9 done
What is cooked
Those on sil eat the day's one meal before noon, often at the temple, and take gilanpasa in the evening while the others go to the dansal. Kiribath is made at dawn.
The hour
Clock times for Wednesday, 19 May 2027 at Chennai
The day whose sunset the full-moon tithi covers, the evening the moon is seen full, and the second of the two when it covers two sunsets. That reproduces every Poya the government gazetted for 2024, 2025 and 2026. The traditional almanac counts the lunar days from a calculated new moon and can still name another day, so the temple notice is worth reading.
The main rite. The full moon by the local clock. The precepts are taken at the temple in the early morning and kept until dawn the next day; the one meal is finished before noon.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunset | 18:28 | the moment the sun goes down |
| Pradosha kala | 18:28 to 20:52 | the 2 h 24 min after sunset, the evening worship hour |
| Moonrise | 17:35 | the Moon rising at this place, the hour a moonrise vratam is broken |
Sunrise 05:43, sunset 18:28, UTC+5.5. These are the instants the rule is read at, not the temple's own puja times, which every temple prints for itself.
The day itself
| What | When | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Tithi | Shukla Chaturdasi from previous day 16:04 until 16:03 | then Shukla Pournami until next day 16:29 |
| Nakshatra | Swati until 12:19 | then Vishakha until next day 13:21 |
| Rahu kaal | 12:05 to 13:41 (1 h 36 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 07:18 to 08:54 (1 h 36 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 10:30 to 12:05 (1 h 36 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:40 to 12:31 (0 h 51 min) | the midday muhurta, not counted on a Wednesday |
| Moonrise | 17:35 | moonset next day 05:14 |
For Wednesday, 19 May 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
Those who take sil at the temple keep the eight precepts for the day and the night: one meal before midday, nothing solid after it, and no music, ornament or high seat. Others keep the day meatless, and the sale of meat and liquor is closed across the island.
What is avoided
No meat, fish or liquor is sold or served, and nothing is killed; the shops for them close across the island. Those on sil eat nothing solid after noon and leave aside music, dancing, perfume, ornaments and high or luxurious beds, and nobody quarrels or gossips on a Poya.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Sri Lanka keeps all twelve full moons as public holidays, which no other country does, and an intercalated month adds an Adhi Poya of the same name and gives the year thirteen. The Sinhala month names run one behind the Sanskrit ones, which is why the Kandy Esala Perahera ends on the Nikini Poya.
In other regions
- Sri Lanka (the dates above)
- Sri Lanka keeps the Vesak Poya with sil at the temple and the two-day festival outside it.
The dates above are the Sri Lanka reckoning, because that is the calendar this key belongs to. Switch the tradition on the calendar page to see how another one dates the same day.
Greeting
What is said to family and friends on the day
සුබ වෙසක් පොහොය දිනයක් වේවාSuba Vesak pōya dinayak vēvā
Mantras
The prayers said with the day. Each opens with its words and meaning.
- Tisarana (the three refuges)
- Namo Tassa (homage to the Buddha)
- Karaniya Metta Sutta
A name without a link is a long reading, read in full from the family’s own copy or at the place of worship; the library prints the shorter prayers.
Fixing a day for it
The muhurtham rules for a puja held alongside, whose day the family chooses
Vesak Poya's own date is set by the rule in "The hour" above, and no muhurtham moves it. For a temple visit around it, whose day the family does choose, the finder below applies these rules.
A temple visit, or the first darshan at a new temple. No weekday is ruled out: Tuesday belongs to Murugan and the Amman, Saturday to Perumal and Sani, so the day usually follows the deity rather than the almanac. Ashtami and Chaturdasi are the two tithis held back for darshan, with the standing exceptions of Sivaratri on Krishna Chaturdasi and Kala Bhairava Ashtami, which are kept on those very days. Rahu kaal, Yamaganda and Gulika kaal are not scored here; the panchangam page prints them for the day you pick, and most families simply wait them out.
Every date here is computed from the Sun and Moon for the place entered, by the rule printed beside it.
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A printed panchangam can differ by a day where an almanac reads a tithi at a different instant, and a family's own custom always comes first. Where the practice genuinely varies, the text says so rather than choosing for you.