A is for Adhi Vesak
An adhi poya is an extra poya day inserted into the Buddhist lunar calendar to ensure that it stays in sync with the western (solar) calendar. In December 2009 there were two poya days, Unduvap on the 1st and Duruthu on the 31st (much to the dismay of New Year’s Eve revellers, who weren’t officially allowed to drink alcohol until the strike of midnight!). This meant that Duruthu poya fell in December instead of January, Navam in January instead of February, and so on until Adhi Vesak on April 28th. The extra poya day means that Vesak itself will be celebrated (as always) in May.
The following explanation appeared in The Island on April 28th (Adhi Vesak day) under the heading “The significance of Adhi Vesak Full Moon Poya Day” by Premasara Epasinghe:
Although the recognised Vesak Full Moon Poya Day falls on Thursday 27 May 2010, there is an additional Vesak Poya called “Adhi Vesak Full Moon Poya Day” on Wednesday 28 April 2010. This Adhi Poya occurs once in 3 years, due to the change of planentary movements. There are 365 days in an year. According to astrology and Nekath, they calculate a year usually as 360 days. The planets namely Iru, Chandra, Angaharu, Buda, Brahaspathi, Sikuru, Senasuru, Rahu and Khetu, rotate round the Sun. Sometimes the course of the planetary movements change. According to astrological calculations, this leads to an additional month. That’s the reason, according to this year’s Sinhala calendar, Adhi Vesak Full Moon Poya dawns, in April 2010.”
This is of course nonsense. The fact that there are occasionally two poya days in one calendar month has absolutely nothing to do with the planets – and anyway, it’s news to me that “sometimes the course of the planetary movements change”! It is simply because the lunar month, which is approximately 29.5 days (the time it takes the moon to orbit the Earth), does not correspond with the solar year of approximately 365.25 days (the time it takes the Earth to orbit the sun). 365.25 / 29.5 = roughly 12.38. So while most years will include 12 poya days – one per calendar month – once every three years or so there will be a 13th. The last time this happened was in 2007, when May 31st was designated Adhi Poson poya day.
The Muslim lunar calendar, which is also used in Sri Lanka to determine the dates of Muslim holidays such as Ramazan and Hadji, does not have a system like this to keep it in line with the solar year. Which is why Muslim holidays “slip” by a few days every year – Id-Ul-Fitr (Ramazan festival day) fell on 21st September 2009, but will be on 10th September 2010.
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A-Z of Sri Lankan English is an all-new, occasional alphabetical dip into the variety of English spoken in Sri Lanka, published exclusively on Groundviews. The original A-Z of Sri Lankan English was published in the travelsrilanka magazine, and can be found here.
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Did the Lord Buddha ever say anything about his followers having to live according the phases of the moon.
Can anyone explain?
I remember when there were four ‘poya’ days each month, and week days varied from 4 to 6 days – sometimes saturdays and sundays too became working days. The calender was a mess and nothing could be planned ahead.
justita,It’s simply bacause the three most important events in the Buddha’s life are said to have taken place on a Vesak full moon day.There are other minor events that are also said to have taken place on other full moon days throughout the year.That is why Sri Lankan Buddhists consider the full moon day as a day of religious observances
Many people would like to know the religious significance of the full moon and new moon days. To Buddhists, there is a special religious significance especially on full day because certain important and outstanding events connected with the life of Lord Buddha took place on full moon days. The Buddha was born on a full moon day. His renunciation took place on a full moon day. His Enlightenment, the delivery of His first sermon, His passing away into Nibbana and many other important events associated with His life-span of eighty years, occurred on full moon days.
It is believed that the moon, like the other planets, exerts a considerable degree of influence on human beings. Our human body consists of about seventy percent liquid. It is accepted by physicians that our bodily fluids flow more freely at the time of full moon. Researchers have found that certain phases of the moon not only affect humans and animals, but also influence plant life and other elements.
In view of the possible influence of the moon, the ancient sages advised the people to refrain from various commitments on this particular day and take it easy for the day. They are advised to relax their minds on this particular day and to devote their time to spiritual pursuits.
http://www.buddhanet.net/budsas/ebud/whatbudbeliev/217.htm
Are Poya holidays doing anything to bring the needed spirituality to do justice to all the citizens in the island? The answer is “NO”.
A civilised society or nation, through its judicial system, makes a criminal to understand that his criminal acts are wrong, unacceptable and punishable by mankind. Then, the people also get a clear message that criminality will always go with accountability for the crime in a court of law.
Sinhalese soldiers committed war crimes by killing about 40,000 Tamil civilaians and displacing about 300,000 persons from their homes, during the third week of May last year.
The soldiers who committed those war crimes should have been by now arrested, handcuffed, locked up behind bars as dangerous criminals and brought to justice.
Instead, this week of atrocious and barbaric Tamil genocidal acts of 2009 is being celeberated as “war heroes week”; confirming that the governement in colombo is a colonial master, militarily occupying Tamil Eelam(TE).
Obviously, the principle that is being applied is “a colonial master can kill his colonial subjects and need not be brought to justice”.
Therefore, responsibility for Tamil lives in TE is non existent and accountability by the Sri Lankan state is absent.
IF Adolf Hitler would have won the war with the Allied Forces in 1940′s, the war criminals who committed the genocide of Jews would have been called “war heroes” to this day, and the world would have consequently turned out to be a massive genocidal theatre.
Although, one year has passed since the genocidal massacre, the UN and the International Community, though obliged, have not taken any concrete action to punish the war criminals in SL.
Such an attitude will definitely send a wrong signal to rogue regimes to commit similar crimes against humanity.
Dear Samtambi,You are back into playing your old record.It’s high time that you realized that it is a bit out of tune now!
Who displaced 300,000 civilians from their homes?It is the LTTE,in order to use them as a human shield.
Civilians getting caught in the cross-fire is nothing new in the history of mankind i.e.history of war.Most of them were fired at by the LTTE.
Your out of the topic account stinks of bias,Sam.
In countries with a Christian majority the Christian holidays are celebrated.In Sri Lanka all the minority religions have holidays for their events as well;something unprecedented in the world.
“In countries with a Christian majority the Christian holidays are celebrated.In Sri Lanka all the minority religions have holidays for their events as well;something unprecedented in the world.”
This is true.
No Christian majority country officially celebrates and provides holidays for the sacred days of non-Christian traditions, despite calling themselves “multicultural.”
Only two Muslim majority countries officially provide space for minority religions – Malaysia and Bangladesh. However, this is a better record than Christian majority countries.