Vesak Celebration at SHB

On the 16th of May 2025, Sekolah Harapan Bangsa or SHB, held a grand Vesak celebration event. We celebrated the event at the primary gym. The gym has teachers, two monks, primary students, kindergarten students, junior and senior high school students. There, we wash a statue shaped like a baby Buddha with water, and there are flowers, mostly lotus flowers; the water smells very nice. I made a bit of a mistake, but I was guided by the teachers who are present there.

At first, we had to arrive at school as usual. We sing Indonesia Raya, say our prayers, and pledge. After that, we had our regular morning announcements. After the announcements, we headed outside to go to our school bus because we had to go to the primary gym. Over there, we were greeted by grade 7 students who had duties. Then we took our seats as assigned and talked with each other while waiting for the monks to arrive. It was very noisy and light-hearted. They also sang a song before the monks came. After that, the one with duties started putting the things needed on the altar.

As the monks entered, we were asked to stand up and do Anjali. The monks then sat down, and one started to lead the prayer. Usually, we follow Theravada, where we say the prayers in the Pali language, but this time, we followed Mahayana, where we say the prayers in Mandarin. As the monk said the prayers, the monk read them very fast and fluently. We tried to follow his speed, but didn’t know how to say the prayers correctly because we weren’t used to it. After we prayed, the monks explained that we would pour water on the Baby Buddha statue. The monks explained how to do it correctly. We all take turns, each of us going in groups of 2. The kindergartens went first, then primary, junior high, and then high school. After we poured water on the Baby Buddha statue, we were given some water that had been given prayers. After we took the water, we sat back at our assigned seats. The monks then taught us about Dhammadesana. We listened intently to the words the monk had said. 

As we came to an end, we had to do fangshen, where we released one pair of birds. It was an incredible moment. After fangshen, we washed our hands, and then the monks left. We had to stand up and Anjali again. After that, we took turns getting on the school bus and were brought back to SHB 3, where we got free lunches and water. After that, we followed the schedule as usual, but our Buddhist teacher understood that we were exhausted and didn’t learn anything.