Vesak has arrived.

 This is Vesak season. It seems that many people are preparing for Vesak with great enthusiasm and are going to see Vesak. Very beautiful Vesak lanterns are erected and hung in many places.

Why is Vesak special?

It is on Vesak that the Lord Buddha, who realized the truth of the world, was born, passed away (Parinirwanaya), and became a Buddha (Enlightened). To remember these, the Buddhist people of the world engage in various religious ceremonies for them. In the distant past of the Bodhisattva, when he was an ascetic Sumedha, the Bodhisattvas received the definitive explanation from the Lord Buddha named Dipankara on a Vesak day. Lord Buddha came to Kelaniya and placed his left foot mark on Samanala Mountain, "Sri Pada," on Vesak day. Several other very special incidents like this happened on the day of Vesak Pura Pasaloswaka.

Vesak Lantern

This picture shows the Vesak lantern I made for this Vesak. I bought a plastic template to make this. After that, three colors of tissue paper were used to cover the template beautifully and colorfully. The waves extending down from it are also cut and pasted from those three colors.

This image shows the pantheon that was built in the town of Wadduwa. One Jataka story has been depicted in this pantheon.

Often the pantheons are created based on one or more Jataka stories. The Pantheon shown above is brightly illuminated with flickering light bulbs of various colors, and their colors change over time.

"Buddha Rashmi" Vesak region organized by President, prime minister offices in Gangarama, Colombo, Sri Lanka.

The design above were given the first place, and the prize was Rs. 5,00,000.

Most of the Vesak lanterns in the "Buddha Rashmi Vesak" region were made using various natural materials such as banana fiber, coconut ekel, coconut shell, etc. They had spent almost a year creating some of those Vesak lanterns. Some of them are very huge.