The festival celebrates the three most important events in the life of Buddha: his birth and death day, and the moment when he learnt the truth about life and how to avoid suffering.
The celebrations world-wide last for three days. Houses and shrines are decorated with flowers, candles and lanterns, Special offerings are made to statues of the Buddha and there are often processions in the streets.
We made our own Buddhas and decorated our 'shrines' with flowers, candle holders, lanterns, cards and origami cranes.