Buddhism+Question+7+Research

=//__BUDDHISM Question 7__// RESEARCH PAGE:= =What role or purpose do festivals and celebrations serve in the religion?=

= = Click Here to go back to main page


 * Rules for posting:**
 * Post the information you found under your name and festival.
 * Include the website where you found it.
 * Cite sources!
 * You may also edit what other people did


 * What you must include:** (main things in **BOLD**)
 * **Date of festival**
 * **What they do in the festival**
 * What the festival is for
 * How the festival affects Buddhism
 * Where the festival generally takes place (Tibet, Japan...)
 * History/tale/origin
 * **Pictures**

**Buddhist New Year** - Feb 7 [//Jacques//]

 * Date of festival depends on country's background and culture. Theravadin countries (e.g. Thailand) celebrate it for three days starting from the first April full moon. Mahayan countries celebrate it in January, the day of the first full moon. Tibetans celebrate a month later than China's (including Korea and Vietnam) New Year. The Chinese celebrate it in either late January or early February.
 * Activities include praying to Buddha, lighting candles in temples (for respect), fireworks, parades, squirting water on peers and cooking delicious meals.
 * The festival is celebrated to give a chance for a fresh start and to give people hope, just like the "regular" New Year.

http://www.newyearfestival.com/buddhist-new-year.html http://www.123newyear.com/newyear-around-the-world/buddhist-new-year.html http://www.aglobalworld.com/buddhist-calendar/buddhist-observances.php

**Vesak** (Buddha Day) [//Adeline//]
//Young Buddhist in a Vesak Day parade// http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesak http://ezinearticles.com/?Interesting-Festivals-In-Asia---Vesak-Day&id=1533888
 * Festival in honor of the **Birth, Enlightenment, Nirvana and Passing of Buddha**
 * Celebrated on the **first full moon of the Taurus** (usually in May, rarely in June)
 * Vesak is on **May 9th** in 2009 **//- according to Wikipedia, Vesak is on __May 8th in 2009__//**
 * Celebrated in Thailand, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Vietnam, Nepal, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China etc.
 * On Vesak, Buddhists are expected to assemble in their temples before dawn and for the ceremonial hoisting of the Buddhist flag
 * Hymns sung in praise of the holy triple gem: The **Buddha**, The **Dharma**, and The **Sangha** (Buddha's disciples)
 * Buddhists bring offerings of flowers, candles and joss sticks to lay at the feet of Buddha
 * Encouraged to be vegetarian for the day
 * Observe additional disciplines to practice morality, simplicity, and humility
 * 1) not to kill
 * 2) not to steal
 * 3) not to engage in improper sexual activity
 * 4) not to indulge in wrong speech
 * 5) not to take intoxicatng drinks and drugs
 * 6) to abstain from taking food at unreasonable times
 * 7) to refrain from sensual pleasures such as dancing, singing and self-adornment
 * 8) to refrain from using high and luxurious seats in order to practice humility
 * 9) to refrain from wearing scent or garlands
 * 10) to refrain from handling gold or silver so as not to incite greed
 * Celebrating this festival also means to make special effort to bring happiness to the unfortunate

**Sangha Day** (Magha Puja Day or Fourfold Assembly Day) - March 21 [//Kevin//]

 * Second most important Buddhist festival
 * Celebration in honor of the Sangha, or the whole Buddhist community
 * Also known as Magha Puja Day or Fourfold Assembly Day
 * Celebrations include: chanting, meditation, and the lighting of oil lamps

Origin:
 * Originated when 1250 enlightened Buddhist monks from the countryside hear Buddha preach at Veluvana Vihara under the full moon
 * Also known as Buddha's first sermon

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/buddhism/holydays/sangha.shtml#top http://www.buddhamind.info/leftside/lifesty-2/magha.htm http://sunsite.au.ac.th/thailand/special_event/magha/index.html

**Dhamma Day** (Asalha Puja Day) - July 18 [//Jacques//]

 * Is considered as one of the most sacred days in the Buddhist religion.
 * Celebrated on the day of the full moon during the 8th lunar month.
 * Activities include listening to sermons, cleaning up at home, setting up an altar.
 * The festival celebrates the day Buddha gave his First Sermon to his five disciples over 2500 years ago. It also celebrates the time where people first began to worship the Triple Gem (Buddha, His Teachings and His Disciples)
 * Thailand was the first country to celebrate this holiday as they were the first to realize its importance.
 * **Origin:** After Buddha attained Enlightenment, he wondered if he should share and teach his discovery and with whom. He decided to teach the five (now known as His Disciples). On the day of the full moon of the Eighth month he delivered his first sermon at the Deer Park in Benares.

http://sunsite.au.ac.th/thailand/special_event/asalha/index.html http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2008/07/16/dhamma-day-celebrates-buddhist-teachers/ http://www.m-culture.go.th/en/index.php/articles/30-the-important-days-in-thailand/34-asalha-puja-day.html http://www.buddhist-tourism.com/buddhist-festivals/asalha-puja-day.html

**Kathina Ceremony** (Robe Offering Ceremony) [//Angus//]
Is held on any convenient date within one month of the conclusion of the Vassa Retreat, which is the three month rains retreat season (Vassa) for the monastic order. It is the time of the year when new robes and other requisites may be offered by the laity to the monks http://www.buddhanet.net/festival.htm

**Festival of Floating Bowls** (Loy Krathong) [//Angus//]


the Festival of Floating Bowls is the most beautiful of all the Thai Buddhist festivals. It is celebrated all over Thailand with great fervor on the full moon night of the twelveth lunar month. The scene of illuminated bowls floating over the water captures the heart of the viewer. The ritual is simple. One has only to light the joss stick and the candle, make a wish, put the krathong on the water surface and let it float away. Traditionally, the krathongs are made of banana leaves, spider lily plant or banana trunk. They contain food, flowers, joss sticks, betel nuts, coins and candles. Legend has it that the Festival started in the ancient Thai capital of Sukhothai more than 700 years ago. http://thailand.tourism-asia.net/loy-krathong.html

**Elephant Festival** [//Hera//]
 > > > http://www.buddhanet.net/festival.htm > http://wrybread.com/india/elephant.html > http://www.unexplainable.net/artman/publish/article_3916.shtml
 * **3rd Saturday of November**
 * **What they do in the festival**
 * Younger and older generation teaching and learning from one another
 * Buddah used the example of a wild elephant which, when it is caught, is harnessed to a tame one to train. In the same way, he said, a person new to Buddhism should have a special friendship of an older Buddhist.
 * Follows Thai Buddhist belief system
 * Since Buddha used elephant as an example, they celebrate the festival

**Ancestor Day** (Ulambana) [//Hera//]

 * **1st to 5th days of the 8th lunar month**
 * **People visit cemeteries to make offerings to the departed ancestors**
 * to ease the sufferings from ghosts that wander about the world
 * How the festival affects Buddhism
 * Mahayana countries, also in Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand where Theravadin belief system is followed. Japanese Buddhists hold a similar holiday, reffered as Obon (beginning on July 13th and observced for 3 days, celebrates the reunion of family andcestors with the living)
 * It is believed that the gats of hell are opened on the first day and the ghosts may visit the world for fifteen days. Food offerings are made during this time to relieve the sufferings of these ghosts.[[image:http://myprinting.com.au/china/queue/zhongdiangate.jpg]]

http://www.buddhanet.net/festival.htm http://www.unexplainable.net/artman/publish/article_3916.shtml