For Buddhists, Thursday is Sangha or Asalha Puja Day. Observed on the full moon day of the eighth lunar month, it commemorates the “turning of the wheel of the Dharma,” the Buddha’s first sermon, at Sarnath Deer Park.

The following day, Buddhist monks of the southern or Theravada tradition will begin a three-month period of Dharma study, meditation, and offering of religious services, known as Vassa, or the Rains Retreat Observance.