International Vesak Buddhist Film Festival – One of the Most Extravagant of Festivals

Vesak, the day celebrating the birth, enlightenment and passing away of the Lord Gautama Buddha is one of the most extravagant of festivals held in Sri Lanka. The festival falls on the full moon poya day of May every year and this year it was held on May 10th. Celebrations for vesak ranged from fabulous pandols, to paper lanterns and almsgiving stalls offering free refreshments. For tourists wanting to experience the best of Vesak, Colombo is the ideal destination as most of the celebrations are centred here. For example head over to Fort, the economic hub of the city where you can find many a luxury apartment in Colombo the likes of the Capitol TwinPeaks as well as the shopping malls. This is where most of the ‘Vesak Kalapa” are based at.

This year’s Vesak Festival was even more special to Sri Lanka because World UN International Vesak Festival was held here between the 11th – 13th of May.