Page 22 - Wesak as a Public Holiday and Its Social Psychological Significance

Wesak as a Public Holiday and Its Social Psychological Significance

100 Years of the Buddhist Mahavihara At that time, Sri Lanka, Burma, and
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(1895-1995)” ，the Brickfields Buddhist even India already have Wesak as a public
Temple started celebrating Wesak probably holiday. Thus, Theravada monks found it
in 1895. From then until the 1920s, the difficult to accept that Malaya, which was
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celebration would involve a carol party similarly under British administration did
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that travelled in gaily decorated bullock not have Wesak as a public holiday . It was
carts, starting from the Sentul Buddhist therefore quite natural that they would call
Temple in the evening of Wesak day, for Wesak to be made a public holiday.
passing through the town visiting Singhala
Buddhist houses and finally arrived at the
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Brickfields Buddhist Temple , before
returning in the early hours of the following
morning. In the 1930s, Brickfields
Buddhist Temple used to have firework
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display in conjunction with Wesak . It was
one of the two places in Kuala Lumpur that
had fireworks display, the other being the
Selangor Club. Fig. 12 shows news report
on celebration in temples, decoration of
houses and shops, and shops closing for
business during Wesak. It is evident from
these reports that Wesak was of great
significance to the Theravada temples and
devotees.

15. H. M. A de Silva, 100 Years of Buddhist Mahavihara（1895-1995）, Sasana Abhiwurdhi Wardhana
Society, Kuala Lumpur 1998, PP269-276.

16. Selangor Journal, Vol IV, No.19, 29th May 1986, PP319-320. It is said that the practice of singing carols at
Wesak originated from the time of Colonel Steel Olcott in the 1880s. It could be regarded as Olcott's answer to
Christian carols.

17. H. M. A de Silva, 100 Years of Buddhist Mahavihara（1895-1995）, Sasana Abhiwurdhi Wardhana
Society, Kuala Lumpur 1998, Pg.270.

18. H. M. A de Silva, 100 Years of Buddhist Mahavihara（1895-1995）, Sasana Abhiwurdhi Wardhana
Society, Kuala Lumpur 1998, Pg.271.
19.Because Malaya and Sri Lanka were both under British rule, Sri Lankans could travel freely to Malaya and
Singapore without a passport (see H. M. A de Silva, 100 Years of Buddhist Mahavihara（1895-1995）, Sasana
Abhiwurdhi Wardhana Society, Kuala Lumpur 1998, pg 14. ). So one could imagine it was hard for them to
accept that Malaya and Singapore did not have Wesak as a public holiday while Sri Lanka did.

Chapter 2: The Sri Lankan Connection Page21