Lunar New Year (Chūn Jié)
Late Jan – Feb
Many Buddhist families eat vegetarian on the first day; Buddha's Delight and dumplings are traditional, and tang yuan close the season at the Lantern Festival.
Volume V
World festival tables
Mid-Autumn Festival
15th day, 8th lunar month (Sep–Oct)
A moon-viewing supper; serve lotus, pumpkin and red-bean dishes instead of very rich mooncakes, with Asian pears and persimmons.
Vesak / Buddha Purnima
Full moon of April–May
A white-and-gold temple meal honouring the Buddha's birth, awakening and passing — simple, pure, shared.
Dōngzhì — Winter Solstice
≈ 21–22 December
Families gather for tang yuan (south) or dumplings (north) on the longest night.
Chuseok — Korean Harvest
15th day, 8th lunar month
Gratitude for the harvest with namul, japchae, rice and pumpkin porridge.
Sinhala & Tamil New Year · Losar
April (Sri Lanka) · Feb–Mar (Tibet)
Milk rice for auspicious beginnings in Sri Lanka; sweet butter rice, thukpa and momos for Tibetan Losar.
Indian–Asian Bridge Thali
Any season
For guests who move between both worlds: kanji meets congee, thoran meets namul.