Vesak Festival The Vesak full moon, on which Sri Lanka keeps the birth, the enlightenment and the passing into parinirvana of the Buddha together.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Vesak
- हिन्दी
- वेसाक
- සිංහල
- වෙසක්
Only the names actually in use are listed. A blank script is not an omission: the day may simply not be kept there, or be kept under a different festival's name.
UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place: 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
Looking for the calendar this day belongs to
This day does not fall again in the next three years at this place. A few days are tied to the solar month rather than to the civil year, so a year can hold two of them or none.
What the day is
The Vesak full moon, on which Sri Lanka keeps the birth, the enlightenment and the passing into parinirvana of the Buddha together. Houses hang the kudu, paper lanterns lit from inside, the streets put up thorana, painted panels of the Jataka stories lit in sequence with commentary, and dansal give food and drink away free to anyone who passes. White is worn to the temple, the slaughterhouses close and the sale of meat and liquor stops for both days.
- Deity
- Buddha
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
The hour
The rule in words
The civil day the Vesak full moon falls on by the local clock, and the day after it, both of them public holidays; sil is taken at the temple at dawn.
The fast
Those who take sil keep the eight precepts: one meal before midday, nothing solid after it, and no music, ornament or high seat. Others keep the two days meatless.
Where the regions differ
Sri Lanka keeps two days and the Buddhist era turns here, from the Common Era year plus five hundred and forty-three to plus five hundred and forty-four. India keeps the same full moon as Buddha Purnima and Nepal as Buddha Jayanti, and Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia reckon the month a little differently and can fall a lunation apart.
Fixing a day for it
The muhurtham rules that go with this festival
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. 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.