Guanyin's Birthday · Guanyin Dan

Culture of origin: Buddhist · Cultural

Holiday sources: Buddhism

Guanyin is the Chinese name of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, and through that compassion she is associated in East Asia with vegetarianism. In the best-known Chinese legend she was Miaoshan, a princess who refused the marriage her cruel father had chosen and asked to become a nun; in one ending she gave her arms and eyes to cure his illness and became the Thousand-Armed Guanyin. Chinese Buddhism keeps three days for her, all on the nineteenth: her birthday in the second month, her attainment of enlightenment in the sixth and her leaving home for the religious life in the ninth, which some places loosely call her three birthdays. On each, devotees crowd the temples to burn incense, bow before the Buddha, chant sutras, meditate, pray and fulfil vows, as lively as the three great Chinese festivals.