Magic of Vesak from my childhood…..

Vesak Lanterns

Vesak is the Full moon day in the month of May. This is the day that Buddha was born, attained enlightenment and passed away. We celebrate this special day by lighting colorful lanterns and tiny lamps in the gardens. When I was little I looked forward to this day. I just can’t explain how magical it was in the eyes of a little one. I remember enjoying it every year. When we were small my dad or mom lighted up the candles and stuck them to the bottom of the waxed paper lanterns. They let us have the honor of hanging them in the bushes and trees. Purple ones were my favorite. Of course there were all the colors in the rainbow. I grew up with five brothers and sisters and we would go round the garden figuring which colors go where. By the end of it I remember sitting in the verandah watching these magical lights. They were absolutely gorgeous. My mom would light up a row of tiny clay lamps along the wall in the garden. I enjoyed the sweet smell of the coconut oil from the burning lamps. When we were older we built “Vesak Koodu”. These were bigger lanterns built with hand shaped bamboo skewers tied together. Pretty colored tissue paper was glued on. Some of these were so elaborate and bigger than us! The ones I made were simpler star shaped or hexagonal box shaped ones. I usually used red and white. The whole family contributed to these more elaborate lanterns. These were lighted up with a lot of pride because they were handmade.

 

The thing that I enjoyed most is, after hanging all our lanterns we would go for a walk around the neighborhood to see the pretty lights in other homes. I loved this tradition. After we came back from the walk my dad would pack us all in the car and drive around town where there were huge pandols (lighted structures) with a million light bulbs in each. They all had a story about the life of Buddha. There were street plays, puppet shows, free food. The whole town was a carnival for everyone.

 

I have not celebrated Vesak for 20 years now. I still remember the joy, the smell and the calm content feeling of Vesak as if it were yesterday. I tell my daughter about this special day and how we celebrated it. Now she wants to celebrate it too. It’s today and there’s hardly any time to make a lantern and find anything that resembles the colorful wax paper lanterns I love. But we’ll make it happen. My little girl and my little boy will get to enjoy the joy of Vesak too.

 

Here’s a little glimpse of Vesak in one of my encaustic paintings.

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