Meaning of the Term
Visakha Puja (Vesak) means the worship of the Buddha on the full moon day of the sixth lunar month. It usually falls in May. In the case of a year with Adhikamasa (a year with an extra eighth lunar period), Visakha Puja Day falls on the full moon day of the seventh lunar month.
Visakha Puja is one of the most important days in Buddhism because of three important events that it commemorates, i.e., the birth, the Enlightenment, and the passing away of the Buddha. These three incidents miraculously fall on the same month and date. Each year throughout the world on the Vesak full moon, Buddhist monks and lay people gather together to worship in a very special way and to recollect the wisdom, purity, and compassion of the Buddha.