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Vesak
On the full moon of the Buddha, people eat vegetarian food and give free meals to strangers.
What is eaten for Vesak
Vesak marks the birth, enlightenment and passing of the Buddha. Many Buddhists eat no meat on the day and take food to the monastery in the morning. Giving is the centre of it. In Sri Lanka neighbourhoods set up dansal, roadside stalls that hand out free rice and curry, drinks and sweets to anyone who passes. Milk rice recalls the bowl offered to the Buddha by Sujata before his enlightenment. The date shown is the full moon kept in South Asia. Some countries keep Vesak on another day.
The dishes
Also part of it, and being written: Chickpea (Boiled spiced chickpeas are a common free offering at the stalls.).
Written by the Thali desk with AI assistance. Background: "Vesak" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from family to family and place to place. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Kheer: stu spivack, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Kiribath: AntanO, CC BY-SA 4.0, source