In Sikkim, Buddha Purnima is celebrated as part of which festival?

In Sikkim, Buddha Purnima is celebrated as part of Saga Dawa, the holiest festival of Mahayana Buddhists. Saga Dawa means "the month of merits" and refers to the fourth month of the Tibetan lunar calendar, which usually falls in May or June. Its full moon day is the most sacred day of the year.

Saga Dawa commemorates three great events in the life of Gautama Buddha: his birth, his enlightenment and his death (parinirvana). Buddhists believe that the effects of good and bad actions are multiplied many times during this month, so it is a time for acts of merit. During Saga Dawa, Buddhists in Sikkim visit monasteries, offer prayers, light butter lamps, give alms to the poor and avoid killing animals. Many people do not eat meat during the month, and some free captured animals. The main celebrations are held in Gangtok, where monks carry the holy books of the Buddhist scriptures in a colourful procession around the town, accompanied by the sound of drums and horns and the chanting of prayers. Devotees walk around monasteries and stupas, spin prayer wheels and fly prayer flags. The festival is a public holiday in Sikkim.

In the rest of India and the world, the same full moon day is celebrated as Buddha Purnima or Vesak, on the full moon of Vaishakha.

Sikkim has many Buddhist festivals:

• Losoong (Namsoong), the harvest and New Year festival of the Bhutias and Lepchas, in December.
• Pang Lhabsol, the worship of Mount Kanchenjunga, the guardian deity of Sikkim.
• Bumchu, the festival of the holy water pot at Tashiding Monastery.
• Drukpa Tshe-zhi, the Buddha's first sermon.
• Lhabab Dhuechen, the Buddha's descent from heaven.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Losoong is the harvest and New Year festival of the Bhutias and Lepchas.
• ✗Pang Lhabsol honours Mount Kanchenjunga as Sikkim's guardian deity.
• ✗Bumchu is the festival of the holy water pot at Tashiding Monastery.