Sri Lanka declares National Vesak Week to mark most significant event for Buddhists all over world

On May 15, Sri Lanka has declared a National Vesak Week to mark the most significant event for Buddhists all over the world. The festival commemorates the birth, enlightenment (Buddhahood), and death (Parinirv?na) of Gautama Buddha in the Theravada or southern tradition. The Vesak Festival- 2019 will be held under tight security and people have been encouraged to organize celebrations at Buddhist temples and not in public places in the wake of Easter Sunday attacks last month. The state Vesak festival will be held in Galle under the patronage of the President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe. This year’s Vesak festival aims to create a society of wise Buddhists making the village temple as the center of spiritual development in order to realize the sustainable goals of development.