Gautam Buddha's Birthday
International Day of the Roma

April 8 : Gautam Buddha's Birthday

Buddha's Birthday, the birthday of the Prince Siddhartha Gautama, is a holiday traditionally celebrated in Mahayana Buddhism.

Japan adopted the Gregorian calendar rather than the Chinese lunar calendar in 1873. The 4th month in the Chinese Lunar Calendar is translated into April or May. Therefore Buddha's birth is celebrated on April 8 or May 8 in many Japanese temples, and rarely on the orthodox Chinese calendar date.

In all east Asian countries, except Japan beginning in 1873, it is held on the 8th day of the 4th month in the Chinese lunar calendar, and the day is an official holiday in Hong Kong, Macau, and South Korea. The date varies from year to year in the Gregorian calendar: 2011: May 17 ; 2012: May 28 ; 2013: May 17 ; 2014: May 6 ; 2015: May 25

Birth of Buddha or Tathagata is celebrated in India, especially in Sikkim, Ladakh , Arunachal Pradesh, Bodh Gaya and Maharashtra (where 6% of total population are Buddhists) and other parts of India as per Indian calendar. Buddhist People go to common Viharas to observe a rather longer-than-usual, full-length Buddhist sutra, as something like a service. The usual dress is pure white. Non-vegetarian food is normally avoided. Kheer, a sweet rice porridge is commonly served to recall the story of Sujata, a maiden who, in Gautama Buddha's life, offered the Buddha a bowl of milk porridge.

Events
1904 – Longacre Square in Midtown Manhattan is renamed Times Square after The New York Times.
1906 – Auguste Deter, the first person to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, dies.
1908 – Harvard University votes to establish the Harvard Business School.
1911 – Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discovers superconductivity.
1929 – Indian Independence Movement: At the Delhi Central Assembly, Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt throw handouts and bombs to court arrest.
1946 – The last meeting of the League of Nations, the precursor of the United Nations, is held.
1946 – Électricité de France, the world's largest utility company, is formed as a result of the nationalisation of a number of electricity producers, transporters and distributors.
1954 – A Royal Canadian Air Force Canadair Harvard collided with a Trans-Canada Airlines Canadair North Star over Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, killing 37 people.
1954 – South African Airways Flight 201 A de Havilland DH.106 Comet 1 crashes into the sea during night killing 21 people.
1959 – A team of computer manufacturers, users, and university people led by Grace Hopper meets to discuss the creation of a new programming language that would be called COBOL.
1961 – A large explosion on board the MV Dara in the Persian Gulf kills 238.
1968 – BOAC Flight 712 catches fire shortly after take off. As a result of her actions in the accident, Barbara Jane Harrison is awarded a posthumous George Cross, the only GC awarded to a woman in peacetime.
1992 – Retired tennis great Arthur Ashe announces that he has AIDS, acquired from blood transfusions during one of his two heart surgeries.
1993 – The Republic of Macedonia joins the United Nations.
2005 – Over four million people attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II.
2008 – The construction of the world's first building to integrate wind turbines is completed in Bahrain.

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