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A message from a Wesak 2015 attendee...

I felt inspired to share with our community a beautiful highlight from our annual Wesak event this past weekend of May 1st to the 3rd, 2015. I have been attending Wesak since its inception for over 20 years and for the past 5 years, we have been graced to have Spring Hill Nursery loan us plants of our choice for setting up the Wesak hall of events. This includes presenters, musicians, Kirtan, guests and volunteers.

This year we had something noticeable take place that to my knowledge has not happened any other year to this degree. This year when I went to pick up plants from Spring Hill Nursery, I wanted bring as many blooming plants as possible to brighten the effect up on the stage. The nursery is very generous year after year to provide our event with plants for loan with the provision that we state they are for sale, and that they come from Spring Hill Nursery. They also state that if there is any damage in transport or during our event, we agree to buy them.

We had a smaller group this year, and I first had concern about the fact that the plants we were loaned were more in tight buds and the leafing plants were tucked in so to speak. The stage we put the plants on was darken so no natural light came into contact with the stage except for a few string lights.

As the weekend progressed I noticed something which I had never witnessed before. Up on stage I could almost watch the flowers start to bloom in a slow motion fashion and by the end of the weekend with all the speakers have given their talks, the musicians and Kirtan play their music and the guests really being present for this event, the plants responded actively in a like manner. The spiritual light was such that ALL of the plants came to full bloom, expansion and were literally bursting forth in chorus. What a joyous surprise to witness and partake in. The flavor of our deep relationship with nature and the plant kingdom was thriving. Whoever buys these plants are receiving the most high, in terms of natural allowance and maximum in plant growth.

Again, I deeply want to thank all participants who made Wesak a wonderful event and especially thank Spring Hill Nursery for the opportunity to share their beautiful plants with us at Wesak.

Bright Blessings for us all,
Andrea Miller

http://wesak.us/index.php

Wesak, also spelt Vesak, is a day celebrated by Buddhists around the world. The term Vesak comes from the name of a month in the Indian calendar.

Wesak Day is one of the most important festivals in the Buddhist calendar as it commemorates three significant events in Gautama Buddha’s life – namely his birthday, his enlightenment and his passing away.

During this festival, devotees bring offerings of flowers, joysticks and candles. This is to remind them that, just as flowers wither and die, and joysticks and candles burn away, so too is life – temporary.

Besides this ritual, local temples carry out special services and various welfare activities such as providing vegetarian meals to the poor and needy. In some countries, Buddhists set free some captive birds as a sign of liberation from captivity. The ‘Bathing the Buddha’ ceremony is important and often a part of the celebration where water is poured over the shoulders of the Buddha. This serves to remind fellow Buddhists to purify the mind from greed, lead noble lives and practice morality and kindness.

At the end of the day, a candle procession is held and this includes the traditional dragon and lion dances. This is the highlight of the public holiday as people of different races and religions gather to watch the procession.

Different countries may celebrate Wesak Day in different ways but in all places it is a celebration of much color and joy. It is considered a public holiday in most of the South East Asia countries like Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Singapore.

http://publicholidays.com.my/wesak-day/