Bak Full Moon Poya Day

The Significance of Full Moon Poya Days in Sri Lanka

The Indian Ocean island of Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) is primarily a Buddhist country and most of its festivals are based on the lunar calendar. Every full moon day, also known as 'Poya', is a holiday in this nation. The Buddha encouraged his disciples to undertake spiritual practices during the full moon period and Sri Lankan Buddhists spend these days in meditation and prayer.

The Buddha adopted this practice and from this developed the preaching of the Buddhist texts and commentaries in monasteries and temples on full moon Poya days.

When the Venerable Arahat Mahinda Thero introduced Buddhism to Sri Lanka in 247 BC he also introduced the Poya tradition. Each Poya day, known by its traditional Sinhala name, is related to an incident in the life of the Buddha or to a historic Buddhist event. Buddhism differs from other religions because it does not believe in a Creator or an Almighty God who is responsible for all our actions. Buddhism, in the actual sense is not a religion, though people generally call it one, because there is no belief in, or recognition of a higher unseen authority, or a controlling power, but emotions and morality connected therewith. Buddhism is a moral philosophy in pursuit of wisdom and knowledge, norms and laws, and all other things connected therewith.

Bak Full Moon (April): Commemorates the second visit of the Buddha to Sri Lanka, which took place in the fifth year of his Supreme Enlightenment.