Wesak

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A major Buddhist holiday, observed especially in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia, that marks the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha
2. An important Buddhist festival held in May that honors the Buddha's birth, awakening and passing into nirvana, often with lanterns and devotional activities
3. The Buddhist observance, celebrated mainly in Sri Lanka, that commemorates the key events in the life of Gautama Buddha on the full moon of Vesak

Etymology: Wesak is the name of the Buddhist festival that marks the Buddha's birth, and its name traces back to Pali, the language of the early Buddhist scriptures, in the form "Vesākha," the name of the lunar month in which the festival falls. That Pali word moved into Thai as "wísǎakà," and from Thai it reached English by way of Malay, which is why the spelling sits so far from its Sanskrit and Pali relatives. The word arrived in English as a borrowing from Malay, the language spoken widely across Malaysia, Singapore, and parts of Indonesia, where Theravada Buddhist communities use the term for the same occasion. English speakers therefore encountered the festival name through Southeast Asian usage rather than through direct contact with Pali.

Synonyms: Vesak