Wesak (or Vesak) is the most important festival of the Buddhist year. It is celebrated on the full moon in May. The exact date varies because the Buddhist calendar is lunar.

What Wesak Remembers

Tradition says that three key events in the Buddha's life all happened on this same date in different years:

His birth in a garden in Lumbini.
His enlightenment under the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya, aged 35.
His parinirvana at Kushinagar, aged 80.

How Buddhists Celebrate

Homes and temples are cleaned and decorated.
Coloured paper lanterns are hung up and candles lit, symbolising the light of the Dharma.
Buddhists visit the vihara for meditation, chanting and Dharma talks.
Many take the Five Precepts for the day and refresh their commitment.
Offerings of food, money and clothes are made to monks - an act of dana (generous giving).
Statues of the baby Buddha are bathed in scented water.
Some Buddhists release caged birds as a symbol of freedom from suffering.

Wesak is recognised by the United Nations as an international day. In Britain, big Wesak gatherings take place at Buddhist centres in London, Birmingham and other cities.

Y9 Buddhism

Wesak - the Buddha's Birthday