For the tribes in Patagonia, see Poya (tribe)

Poya (tribe)

The Poyas were a subgroup of indigenous Tehuelche people living in the Andes of Llanquihue and Palena Province as well as on the southern shores of Nahuel Huapi Lake in present day Argentina...

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Poya or Poya Day is the name given to a Buddhist public holiday in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

 which occurs every full moon

Full moon

Full moon lunar phase that occurs when the Moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. More precisely, a full moon occurs when the geocentric apparent longitudes of the Sun and Moon differ by 180 degrees; the Moon is then in opposition with the Sun.Lunar eclipses can only occur at...

 day. The Full moon is important to Buddhists all around the world, who have adopted the Lunar Calendar

Lunar calendar

A lunar calendar is a calendar that is based on cycles of the lunar phase. A common purely lunar calendar is the Islamic calendar or Hijri calendar. A feature of the Islamic calendar is that a year is always 12 months, so the months are not linked with the seasons and drift each solar year by 11 to...

 for their religious observances. Owing to the moon's fullness of size as well as its effulgence, the full moon day is treated as the most auspicious of the four lunar phases occurring once every lunar month (29.5 days) and thus marked by a holiday.

Every full moon day is known as a Poya in Sinhala; this is when a practicing Buddhist visits the Temple for the rituals of worship. There are 12 or 13 Poyas per year. The term poya is derived from the Pali

Páli

- External links :* *...

 and Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...

 form uposatha

Uposatha

The Uposatha is Buddhist day of observance, in existence from the Buddha's time , and still being kept today in Buddhist countries. The Buddha taught that the Uposatha day is for "the cleansing of the defiled mind," resulting in inner calm and joy...

(from upa + vas: to fast) primarily signifying "fast day". Generally shops and businesses are closed on Poya Days, and the sale of alcohol

Alcohol

In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....

 and meat

Meat

Meat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs and offal...

 is forbidden.

Note that the "day" of the full Moon is not the same as the Gregorian (Western) Calendar day. Therefore, in some cases one finds that the official date of a Poya Day public holiday in Sri Lanka is not on the Gregorian date of that Full Moon. For example, looking at the "Department of Government Printing, Sri Lanka" listing of "PUBLIC, BANK, MERCANTILE AND FULL MOON POYA HOLIDAYS – 2010" one sees that in January they list the full Moon on January 30, but the Navam Full Moon Poya Day is on January 29. The same discrepancy occurs in March, May, July, October, and December of 2010. The actual holiday date is based on the phase of the Moon at the Madhyahana time of day (the variant of Madhyahana which only covers 2 ghatikas). This is analogous to the rules that govern the date of Ganesh Chaturthi

Ganesh Chaturthi

Ganesh Chaturthi , also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi is the Hindu festival of Ganesha also called Vinayagar in Tamil Nadu, the son of Shiva and Parvati, who is believed to bestow his presence on earth for all his devotees in the duration of this festival...

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Month	Poya Name
January	Duruthu Poya
February	Navam Poya
March	Medin Poya
April	Bak Poya
May	Vesak Vesak Vesākha is a holiday observed traditionally by Buddhists in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the South East Asian countries of Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma, and Indonesia... Poya
June	Poson Poya
July	Esala Poya
August	Nikini Poya
September	Binara Poya
October	Vap Poya
November	Il Poya
December	Unduvap Poya

If a month has two Poya Days the name of the second one will be preceded by ”Adhi” (”extra” in Sinhala) as in ”Adhi Vesak”, ”Adhi Poson”, etc.