Vesak Poya

Buddhists around the world, await the arrival of Vesak full moon poya day since it was on such a day that the Birth, Enlightenment and the Passing away of the Buddha took place.
So this thrice blessed Vesak Poya Day is of great significance to Buddhists and the festival is celebrated with great splendour. It is a day of great sanctity devoted to religious observances and charity and its main intention is to focus on the importance of bestowing kindness on all living beings, not only the human beings.
So during the Vesak week animal slaughter is strictly prohibited and those hapless beings are saved from death even for a day. Isn't it a great relief to your eyes, not to witness raw flesh hanging in meat stalls on either side of the road at least for a week!
We also look forward to celebrate the Vesak festival with much festivity - with numerous colourful decorations, illuminations, pandals and pageants. Not only today, but throughout history, Buddhists in Sri Lanka have celebrated the festival on a grand scale.
According to Mahavamsa , the Aryans from India (Prince Vijaya and his group) had arrived in Sri Lanka on the same Vesak Full Moon Poya day that the Buddha passed away in Kusinara. So apart from its religious significance, Vesak day is also related to the origin of the Sinhalese.

Poson Full Moon - JUNE

It commemorates the introduction of Buddhism to Sri Lanka by Arahat Maha Mahinda (son of King Asoka of India) at Mihintale in the third century B.C. Ven Mahinda established the Dispensation of The Buddha (Buddhasasana) in Sri Lanka