{"id":16702,"date":"2023-05-29T10:48:28","date_gmt":"2023-05-29T05:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fnp.sg\/blog\/?p=16702"},"modified":"2023-05-30T15:07:45","modified_gmt":"2023-05-30T09:37:45","slug":"a-guide-to-vesak-festival-and-observances-by-buddhists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fnp.sg\/blog\/a-guide-to-vesak-festival-and-observances-by-buddhists","title":{"rendered":"A Guide to Vesak Festival and Observances by Buddhists"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_81 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fnp.sg\/blog\/a-guide-to-vesak-festival-and-observances-by-buddhists\/#Story_Behind_Vesak\" >Story Behind Vesak<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fnp.sg\/blog\/a-guide-to-vesak-festival-and-observances-by-buddhists\/#The_Date_of_Vesak\" >The Date of Vesak<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fnp.sg\/blog\/a-guide-to-vesak-festival-and-observances-by-buddhists\/#How_to_Celebrate_Vesak\" >How to Celebrate Vesak<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fnp.sg\/blog\/a-guide-to-vesak-festival-and-observances-by-buddhists\/#Final_Words\" >Final Words<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Vesak is a Buddhist festival that marks Siddhartha Gautama\u2019s birthday. In some parts of the world, Wesak or Buddha Day also marks his enlightenment or the day he discovered the meaning of life. The special day is all about reflecting on his teachings and the significance of being a Buddhist. Continue scrolling to discover more about the Buddhist festival.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Story_Behind_Vesak\"><\/span><b>Story Behind Vesak<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Siddhartha Gautama is believed to be a prince born into a wealthy family in the 5th century BC in Nepal. He realised that luxury and wealth are not equivalent to happiness in life. That\u2019s why he began the journey of a homeless holy man to witness suffering and learn more about how the universe works.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After six years of travelling and meditating, he attained spiritual awareness and discovered the meaning of life. This is how he achieved enlightenment and became the Buddha, meaning the awakened or enlightened one. Buddha dedicated the rest of his life to teaching his followers about his experience.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Date_of_Vesak\"><\/span><b>The Date of Vesak<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Vesak is celebrated on the first full moon of Vesakha (ancient lunar month). It usually falls in May or early June. Therefore, the date of Vesak keeps changing every month.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_Celebrate_Vesak\"><\/span><b>How to Celebrate Vesak<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Vesak is celebrated in different countries, including Thailand, India, and Singapore. Buddhists in every part of the world follow different traditions to celebrate the special day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Several <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fnp.sg\/blog\/5-must-visit-buddhist-temples-for-vesak-day-in-singapore\">Buddhists visit their local temple<\/a> on this auspicious occasion. People even spend the entire day and night of the full moon inside the temple. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The day also involves chanting, meditating, and reflecting on Buddha\u2019s teachings. Moreover, Buddhists also perform good deeds on this particular day, like sharing food with people and bringing offerings to temples.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bathing the idol of Buddha is also a common sight on this day. In this ceremony, water is poured over the shoulders of an idol of Buddha. It reminds people to wash away negative thoughts from their minds.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Final_Words\"><\/span><b>Final Words<\/b><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fnp.sg\/blog\/how-is-vesak-day-celebrated-worldwide\">festival of Vesak<\/a> is all about celebrating it with friends and family. If you can\u2019t be together with your loved ones on this auspicious day, you can send them your heartiest wishes with thoughtful gifts, adorned with heartwarming messages. Have a wonderful Vesak celebration!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vesak is a Buddhist festival that marks Siddhartha Gautama\u2019s birthday. In some parts of the world, Wesak or Buddha Day also marks his enlightenment or the day he discovered the meaning of life. The special day is all about reflecting on his teachings and the significance of being a Buddhist. Continue scrolling to discover more [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":16704,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2649],"tags":[2654,2651,2655,2652,2653],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fnp.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16702"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fnp.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fnp.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fnp.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fnp.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16702"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.fnp.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16706,"href":"https:\/\/www.fnp.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16702\/revisions\/16706"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fnp.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fnp.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fnp.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fnp.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}