Once in a blue moon

Significance of the two full moons in May:

by Lakmal Welabada

We had two Full Moon Poya Days last month, May 1, and 31. The Full Moon Day which fell on May 1 was declared the Vesak Full Moon Poya and May 31 was named 'Adhi Poya'. The result of this was that question was raised whether the Vesak celebration was done on the right Poya day.

"Vesak means not merely a religious celebration as it has got rooted into the culture of the nation. Even nature turns in to a more elegant form during this period of the year," highlights Piyasena Rathuwithana, leading astrologer and the Consultant Editor of 'Subasetha'. "The trees bear fruits and flowers bloom everywhere. Birds are seen on the trees singing happily.

The rain keeps the environment cooler than on other days. More than anything else there are particular flowers that bloom during the month of Vesak in the Sripada area. All these changes I personally experienced around me in mother nature during the later days of last month (May), more than at the beginning of the month," he explains.

Something wrong somewhere! "According to the studies I have done in astrology, the Vesak Full Moon Poya Day of this year fell on May 31 and not on May 1," he declares.

"We decide Full Moon Poya Days on the Sri Lankan calendar after consulting the 'Poya Committee' appointed by the government consisting about ten persons including astrologers and Buddhist priests," says Buddhika Warnakula, Public Management Assistant of the Ministry of Public Administration and Home Affairs.

"When the decisions are made all the high officials of the relevant Ministries and departments including either or representatives of the Registrar General should be present. In the beginning of each year, this committee met to decide the relevant Poya Days of the following year.

Even the next year's Poya Days have already been decided. This was done in the month of March, And by now it was already gazetted as well," he says. Dr. Chandana Jayaratne of the Physics Department, Science Faculty of the University of Colombo describes the scientific aspect of the Full Moon Days. "There are two methods (calculations) used to form the calendar of a year - the Solar and the Lunar. According to the Solar method, 30 or 31 days is considered a month.

So there are 335 days in a year in this way. Generally the whole world follows this calendar, so for the convenience we also follow it. In the Lunar Calendar, 28 days are considered as a month. And 280 days are considered as a year. These 28 days are counted from one Full Moon Day to the other. That means in every 28 days time, the moon shines as a full circle in the sky, and the astrological calculations are also formed to match this," he explains.

"Though we follow the Solar Calendar we include the Lunar Full Moon Poya Days too into it, in order to treat the religious countenance, as we, the Buddhists consider it as a day for our religious activities. So in every 28 days time a Full Moon Poya falls. When you divide 365 by 28 , there is a balance of 13. This 13 days get collected in two - three years time, and give (form) an extra month in the following year.

And it adds an extra Full Moon Poya Day as well. This Poya, we call the 'Adhi Poya'. Especially when a Full Moon Poya falls at the beginning of a month, another Full Moon Poya Day tends to fall at the end of the month, after 28 days time forming an 'Adhi Poya'," says Dr. Jayaratne.

Dr. Jayaratne further says that scientifically an 'Adhi Poya' does not have much effect on the earth as it is considered as just another Full Moon Day...

"Astrologically too there's no special impact or effect on human beings by an 'Adhi Poya'," says Manjula Peiris, a young leading astrologer.

'Shudhassa Ve Sada Phakgu

Shudhassubosatho Sada'

"The person who follows the path of Dhamma while being clean and pure in his thoughts, deeds and words considers every day as a 'Poya Day'. He or she does not wait until the Full Moon Poya Day to fall to observe the five precepts or eight precepts of Dhamma," says Thrikunamalaye Ananda Thero, the Chief Bhikku of the Siri Vajiragnana Dharmayathanaya, Maharagama.

"Early years, before the invasion of the Europeans, Sri Lanka had four Poya Day holidays per month according to the four 'Kala' of the moon (shapes or appearances of the moon - e.g. the crescent, half and full moon etc) by going along with the Lunar Calendar. But the Europeans changed this system and introduced Saturdays and Sundays as holidays.

And through the great endeavour that the then Mahanayaka Theras and Buddhist scholars could legalise the Full Moon Poya holidays for the Buddhists.

I take this opportunity to appeal to all the other communities of this country to respect the Full Moon Poya Day as the Buddhist religious day without causing any disturbance to them. The Sinhala Buddhists have been a very tolerant community who simply condone invasions looking at everything through the tranquillizing mind of Buddhist teachings," appeals the Thera.

Ananda Thera further says that since both the Poyas have it is has no use of arguing about it now. "Let us hope the authorities would not repeat the same mistake in the future," concludes the Thera.

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