Latitude, longitude and time zone 13.08, 80.27
Asia/Kolkata · UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place.
Read more Show less
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 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 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.
Significance
Vesak is the one day on which the whole island remembers three moments together: the birth in the Lumbini grove, the awakening under the Bodhi tree at Buddha Gaya and the passing away at Kusinara, all held to have fallen on this full moon. The lanterns and the lamps are not decoration for its own sake; light is the old sign of the Dhamma dispelling ignorance, and a family lights a lamp at its own gate so that the whole street is lit together. The dansal are the heart of it for most families: food and drink given to strangers without asking anything back, which is dana, the first of the perfections, practised in public. Children who make their first kuduwa at home with their parents remember it for life, and that is much of why families keep the day as they do.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Vesak: how it is kept
Keep ready
- white clothes
- thin bamboo sticks and coloured tissue paper for the kuduwa
- glue made from flour
- clay pahan
- coconut oil and cotton wicks
- flowers, lotus or jasmine
- incense
- a clean vessel of water for the Bodhi tree
The steps
0 of 7 done
What is cooked
At home the morning begins with kiribath, milk rice cut in diamonds, with lunu miris. The dansal serve whatever their givers can: rice and curry, boiled chickpeas with coconut, kola kenda, the green herbal porridge, noodles, bread and dhal, tea, ice coffee and ice cream. Nothing with meat or fish is given at a dansala, and those on sil eat their one meal before noon.
The hour
Clock times for Wednesday, 19 May 2027 at Chennai
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 main rite. The Vesak full moon by the local clock, and the day after it. The precepts are taken at the temple at dawn, and the lanterns and pahan are lit at dusk on both evenings.
This day's rule names no hour of its own: it is fixed by the tithi or the nakshatra running at sunrise. The rule above is the whole of it, and the day's own times are below.
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 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.
What is avoided
No meat, fish or liquor is bought, sold or served over the two days, and nothing is killed, not even for the table. Those on sil take no solid food after noon and leave aside music, perfume, ornaments and high beds. A dansala is never a place to sell anything or to push a cause.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
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.
In other regions
- North India
- India keeps the same full moon as Buddha Purnima, most of all at Bodh Gaya, Sarnath and Kushinagar, with chanting and the offering of kheer under the Bodhi tree.
- Maharashtra
- The Buddhists of Maharashtra, who followed Dr Ambedkar into the Dhamma, keep Buddha Purnima with the Buddha vandana at the viharas, white clothes and processions.
- Sri Lanka (the dates above)
- Sri Lanka keeps two public holidays, and Colombo, Kandy and every town has its lantern competitions and thorana; the Buddhist era is counted forward on this day.
- Nepal
- Nepal keeps the same day as Buddha Jayanti, at Lumbini, the birthplace, and at Swayambhunath and Boudhanath in Kathmandu, where the butter lamps are lit all night.
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 මංගල්යයක් වේවාSuba Vesak mangalyayak vēvā
Mantras
The prayers said with the day. Each opens with its words and meaning.
- Namo Tassa (homage to the Buddha)
- Tisarana (the three refuges)
- 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'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.
Read more Show less
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.