Vesak Day Celebration in Borobudur – a happy day for Buddhists
Vesak Day will be celebrated in Borobudur on 4 June 2023
Borobudur Temple, located in Magelang Regency, Central Java, became the location for the celebration of the national Vesak Day on Sunday, 4 June 2023.
Some preparations were made to celebrate Vesak, one of which was welcoming the arrival of 32 monks from Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia.
Dozens of monks will walk to Borobudur Temple for tens of thousands of kilometers.
They walk from one point to another to build a sense of peace and human brotherhood in the world.
Thudong ritual
This Vesak festival celebration is very interesting because it is also enlivened by the arrival of several monks from Thailand
who walked thousands of kilometers to carry out the Thudong ritual,
which is a walking ritual of monks or Banthes that travels thousands of kilometers starting from Thailand to Borobudur temple in Central Java.
Unique Facts about Vesak Day 2023
Wesak celebrations always present a variety of unique and interesting facts, namely
1. Derived from the name of the month
The word Vesak comes from Sanskrit, namely Vaisakha or Vesakha which comes from the name of the month in the Buddhist calendar and usually falls in May in the Christian calendar.
2. Waving the flag
The Buddhist flag flutters during Vesak celebrations.
The six vertical lines represent the six auras emanating from the Buddha after enlightenment.
The colors blue, yellow, red, white, and orange are the colors of the first five bands.
The sixth band is a combination of all the other colors to represent the pure essence or truth of the Buddha’s teachings.
3. Bathing of the Buddha statue Ritual
This ritual symbolizes a new beginning in life.
Apart from that, it also gives an important message that it is easy for us to clean up physical dirt,
but it is difficult to clean up mental dirt, such as hatred, greed, jealousy, and so on.
4.The Pindapatta ritual
Apart from the ritual for washing the Buddha statues, there is also the Pindapatta ritual which is carried out to train monks to live simply and appreciate the gifts of others
and the community learns to give and do good.
Pindapatta comes from the Pali language which means to receive almsfood
The monks walk with bowed heads, carrying bowls of food to receive alms from the people.
5. Waisak date which changes every year
Just like the last year 2021 which was celebrated on May 7, then the following year it will be celebrated on Monday, May 16, 2022.
and this year it will be celebrated on June 4, 2023
This happens because Vesak is celebrated on the 8th day of the 4th month of the Chinese lunar calendar which is different from the Gregorian calendar.
However, one thing is certain, Vesak Day always falls on a full moon night.
6. Borobudur Temple, as the center of Vesak activities
Borobudur Temple has always been the center of Vesak celebration activities where on the peak night lanterns will be flown into the sky
This event will be attended by thousands of people, both Buddhists and non-Buddhists
Vesak Celebration in the City of Solo
Another interesting thing is that the city of Solo will celebrate this Vesak Day for the first time in history
It never happened before
but now the city of Solo has changed and developed into a very tolerant city for people of all religions
So it of course encourages Buddhists in the city of Solo or Central Java and throughout Indonesia
on that day there will be many activities which of course involve the Buddhist community in the city of Solo
If you are in Central Java or Yogyakarta today, maybe you can schedule a time to visit Solo to witness the Vesak celebration there.
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