Celebrate the Wesak Festival in Mount Shasta, California!

Dates of Wesak

The Mount Shasta Wesak Celebration will be May 8th through 10th.

First, using the tropical Zodiac, the full Moon with Sun in Taurus is actually April 20 at 3:26 AM in Mount Shasta, as per the below chart. I understand this, as a full Moon celebration, would be held the evening of the 19th, as the Moon approaches full. Yet, it's good information to have, especially if anyone wishes to do any ceremony when the Moon is exactly full.

Here's the full Moon, Sun in Taurus, chart for using the sidereal Zodiac, which the Buddhists naturally use. The 7:12 PM time is more convenient for evening celebrations.

The tropical zodiac, being a seasonal measurement, is disconnected from the heavens, by now about 24 degrees. (The procession of the equinoxes changes the earth's tilt 1 degree every 70 years.) Vedic Astrology's sidereal zodiac, however, is consistent with the celestial positions — it is astrologically correct. For example, if you look up at the southern sky tonight, you'll plainly see Jupiter in the trail of Scorpio, and that's where I have it in Vedic Astrology — 17 degrees Scorpio. Western Astrology's tropical zodiac, however, has Jupiter at 11 degrees Sagittarius — the 24 degrees difference. This is why Western astrology's tropical zodiac is said to be a "symbolic" zodiac.

For most applications, I would say, yes, use the sidereal zodiac's May 19 date, for it responds to the astrologically and astronomically correct full Moon. However, if you think about it, at Buddha's birth in 622 BC, wouldn't the Scorpio full Moon, Sun in Taurus date be different? The answer is no. I played around with different dates, though my computer program would calculate before the birth of Christ. It turns out that for all calender dates the full Moon with Sun in Taurus always falls in May, though the specific date varies.

I also checked the web and found this article, which explains:

On the way to the Koliya country, the great procession passed a garden called Lumbini Park. This garden was near the kingdom called Nepal, at the foot of the Himalayan mountains. The beautiful park with its sala trees and scented flowers and busy birds and bees attracted the queen. Since the park was a good resting place, the queen ordered the bearers to stop for a while. As she rested underneath one of the sala trees, her birth began and a baby boy was born. It was an auspicious day. The birth took place on a full moon (which is now celebrated as Vesak, the festival of the triple event of Buddha's birth, enlightenment and death), in the year 623 B.C.

If this history is correct, it describes a spring day in the temperate north of India, cooler because of the altitude. It would seem the April full Moon would be too early in the spring in that part of the world and that it better describes a day in May.

(Information courtesy of Doug Riemer.)

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