Today May 08 is the Buddhist sacred day of Vesak (a full moon day). Today, 2550 odd years ago the Buddha was told to have been born then at the age of 35 attained Enlightenment and passed away at the age of 80. This may or may not be true but according to Buddhist tradition this is thus.
On many discussion boards, i have seen many people from around the world become a bit disappointed to know that lay Buddhists practice old and more Hindu oriented practices like worship of various deities for many reasons. This is of course can be attributed to our heritage from neighboring India and also a human factor where people feel their problems can be told to someone higher than them in hope of gains when the mind is weak and lonely. I too may one day ask silently for a miracle 
But today is truthfully a Buddhist day where many sermons and various festivities are organized.
