Buddha Purnima or Buddha day is also called Vesakor Vaisakhi. This religious day is traditionally observed as a holiday by the Buddhist and the Hindus in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. This day is considered and commemorated in many countries like India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Mongolia, Philippines, Laos, China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and many more such countries. This day is celebrated on the full moon day of Vaisakhi which usually occurs in the month of April, May or June as in English calendars. Last time it was on 28 of April 2018 and is expected to be on 19th of the May 2019.
This festival commemorates birth enlightenment also called Buddhahood and death also called Paris Nirvana of Lord Buddha in traditional Southern tradition or Theravada.
That decision to celebrate this day as Buddha Purnima was taken at the World Buddhist fellowship conference in 1950. It was declared that the full moon day of May would be celebrated as Buddha Purnima and will observe a holiday in Nepal. It was requested by this committee that the all those countries who have many members of Buddhist or even a few numbers of Buddhist should take some steps to consider the full moon day of April or May as the Buddha Purnima and must declare a holiday on that day in the honor of Lord Gautam Buddha.
According to them, all countries should follow or consider this day because Lord Buddha was common to all countries since he was the greatest benefactor to the humanity, and as we all know that humanity is common to all nationality. Since that day the full moon day of April or May is considered as Buddha Purnima and observes the holiday in major parts of Asia.
On this day millions of Buddhist from all over the world commemorate the significant events in the life of Lord Gautama Buddha. The birth enlightenment and the demise of the Lord Gautam Buddha. The reason why this religion is spread all over the world is in the older times this religion was started in India and was assimilated too many foreign countries.
This day is called as Vaesakha as its name is derived from the Sanskrit name Vaisakhi which is the lunar month of the calendar year April. In India, this day is considered as Vaisakhipurnima and Buddha Jayanti and this day are accepted all over India as the Buddha’s birthday. In 1999 this day became much reputed and gathered greater attention as the United Nations declared that this day will be observed in their official headquarters and offices too.
This day sought amazing peculiarity in the year of 2007 as there were two full moon days on April 1st and 31stof April. Some countries like Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Cambodia celebrated it on the 1st of April and some countries like Thailand celebrated it on the 31st of April.
This difference in the day of celebration came out due to the different observation of this lunar heavenly body from their respective countries. This is the main reason that some countries like China celebrated in May and Nepal celebrate this day in April and some countries also celebrate this day in June.
On this day all the followers of Buddhism come and gather themselves in temples before the dawn to worship, pray, sing hymns and do the honourable hosting of the Buddhist flag to praise the triple gem- The Buddha, the Dharma i.e his teachings and the Sangha i.e. his disciples. People greet each other and give flowers to each other. Also, many birds, insects, and animals are freed from their prisons as an act of liberation which symbolizes or implies that they deserve freedom and one should not be imprisoned, captivated or tortured against their will.