Buddhist Holidays & Festivals

The Buddhist tradition is rich and diverse, with several different sub-traditions celebrating several Buddhist holidays yearly. While many of these traditions observe certain holidays together, other holidays may be recognized and celebrated differently depending on regional, cultural, historical, or other considerations.

Let’s examine some key Buddhist holidays and festivals, who celebrates them, and why and how to participate.

February/March/April

Parinirvana Day / Nirvana Day

On February 15, Buddhists observe the day that the historical Buddha achieved complete nirvana (cessation of suffering, or parinirvana) upon his death at age 80. Accordingly, it is a day to contemplate impermanence, death, and continuation, and the importance of dharma for the living. Because of its relevance, groups may read from the Nirvana Sutra. The day is noted by Mahayana Buddhists primarily.

Celebrations of Avalokitesvara

On February 19, Buddhists celebrate the birthday of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, or Guanyin, the famed Buddhist figure who “hears and responds to the cries of the world.” In China, for example, hundreds of temples conduct ceremonies in Avalokiteshvara’s honor on this day. Avalokitesvhara’s enlightenment and renunciation — the day that Guanyin is said to have become a nun — are also celebrated on June 19 and September 19, respectively.

Sangha Day / Magha Puja

Magha Puja, also known by some as “Buddhist All Saints Day” or “Sangha Day,” is celebrated by Cambodian, Sri Lankan, Burmese, Lao, and Thai Theravada Buddhists on the full moon day of the third lunar month (for example, February 12 in 2025). A community event (hence the moniker “Sangha Day”), it is marked by temple visits to give alms and to hear and practice Buddhist teachings.

May/June/July/August

Vesak

Vesak, also known as “Buddha Day,” marks the birth, enlightenment, and death of the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, born 2,600 years ago. These three significant events in the Buddha’s life are all said to have happened on the same day, many years apart.

Vesak is observed on different days year-to-year, as celebrations are planned for the first full moon of May, the month of Vesakha in Hindu and Buddhist calendars. Buddhists in China, however, follow the Chinese lunar calendar to plan their Vesak celebrations and observe the holiday on the eighth day of the fourth month of the lunar year. If it’s a leap year, the day often falls in June.

In each place where Vesak is celebrated, devotees typically assemble in their local temples for a ceremonial hoisting of the Buddhist flag and a singing of hymns praising Buddhism’s “three jewels,” of Buddha (the teacher), dharma (the teachings), and sangha (the spiritual community). Offerings of flowers, candles, and burning incense are made. From there, the method of celebration varies from place to place. Paper lanterns are lit and released into water and sky in South Korea and Indonesia, while extravagant light displays illustrate the Buddha’s life in Sri Lanka. Vesak Day originated in Southeast Asia, and is largely considered to be a Theravada Buddhist holiday, but those of other Buddhist traditions, including Zen and Tibetan, often choose to observe the day.

Dharma Day / Asalha Puja

Usually celebrated in July, Asalha Puja is likewise recognized by Theravada practitioners in countries including Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and more. It commemorates the historical Buddha’s first sermon at Deer Park in Sarnath, India, in which he first taught what would become known as the Four Noble Truths. Generally, it is a day to study dharma and give to one’s community.

August/September/October

Obon

Obon, or Bon, is a three-day late-summer/early autumn religious and cultural festival celebrated in Japan and east Asia, dedicated to honoring one’s ancestors. While chiefly Buddhist, it has elements of the Shinto religion as well. Due to differences in lunar and solar calendars, it can start on different dates:

Bon in August (Hachigatsu Bon), is the most celebrated variation, around the 15th of August. Bon in July (Shichigatsu Bon) is celebrated in eastern Japan around the 15th of July. Old Bon (Kyu Bon) is celebrated on the 15th day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, appearing between August 8 and September 7.

While Bon is a time to remember and honor the dead, it is also lively and joyful, a time to be with family and celebrate joyfully.

Bodhidharma Day

Taking place on October 5th (the day of his death), Bodhidharma Day celebrates Bodhidharma, the legendary fifth-century founder of Chan/Zen Buddhism in China. It is not uncommon for practitioners to mark the day with intensive zazen, or Zen meditation.

December

Losar

Generally falling around the second new moon after the winter solstice, Losar marks the new year for Tibetan Buddhists, and is embraced as a time to clean house, cherish family, make offerings, contemplate the past year and welcome the new.

Losar is one of the most important days in the Tibetan Lunar calendar. It is a day of community practice and celebration and a chance to express appreciation for the teachers, teachings, and the basic goodness that binds all beings together.

The tradition originated thousands of years ago in the pre-Buddhist Bon period and is now celebrated worldwide, including in many Buddhist centers in North America.

Bodhi Day

Bodhi Day, celebrated on December 8, commemorates the day that the historical Buddha, formerly known as Prince Siddhartha Gautama, is said to have attained enlightenment. Having renounced his worldly life, Siddhartha took up a punishing life as an ascetic, but in time realized, as Barbara O’Brien writes in “Who Was the Buddha” “that the path to peace was through mental discipline. At Bodh Gaya, in the modern Indian state of Bihar, he sat in meditation beneath a ficus tree, ‘the Bodhi [enlightenment] tree,’ until he awakened, or realized enlightenment. From that time on, he would be known as the Buddha.”

Bodhi Day is widely observed among Mahayana Buddhists including those of the Zen and Pure Land schools. Because the day commemorates the Buddha’s awakening, it is very common for Buddhists to meet the day with increased practice and study, and/or gathering together. The day is also known to Buddhists practicing Japanese Zen as Rohatsu. (See below.)

Rohatsu

Generally recognized on the 8th of December, Rohatsu (Japanese for the eighth day of the twelfth month) is when Zen Buddhists commemorate the historical Buddha’s initial enlightenment experience. Many Zen communities mark the event with a weeklong session or retreat of practice in honor of the Buddha and his effort to realize enlightenment with and for all sentient beings.

Buddhist Holidays