Origin...
One of the main activities of the festival is the "bathing Buddha" ritual. Legend records that when Prince Siddhartha was born, there were extraordinary and auspicious signs heralding his birth.

They describe the sky as being clear with brilliant sunshine, flowers blooming and birds singing - dragons appeared in the sky spurting two streams of purified water (one cool and one warm), that gently cascaded down to bathe him.

At his birth, seven lotus flowers sprung up beneath his feet as he walked - pointing one hand to the sky and ground he said "in the heaven above and earth below, I vow to liberate all who suffer in these three realms".

Since that time Buddhists all over the world celebrate his birthday by using fragrant water to bathe the image of Buddha.

This ritual highlights a universal message that "it's easy to wash away physical dirt but it's much more difficult to cleanse one's 'inner dirt' of greed, anger and ignorance."