Bodhi Day Festival

The famous Bodhi Day Festival is observed as the day of enlightment of Siddartha Gautama. It is celebrated on 8th day of the 12th lunar month, and is ceremonized annually on 8th of December in Japan and other countries. According to mythology, Siddhartha had recently forsaken years of extreme ascetic practices, he then decides to sit under a Pipal tree and meditate until he found the root of suffering, and a way to liberate one's self from it. It is a buddhist holiday and followers generally spend their day praying, meditating and listening to preachings of Lord Buddha.

In The Longer Discourse of Saccaka (MN 36), the Buddha describes his Enlightenment in three stages:

During the first watch, the Buddha discovered all of his past lives in the cycle of rebirth, realizes that he had been born and reborn countless times before.

As the second watch progresses, the Buddha discovered the Law of Karma and the importance of living by the Eightfold Path.

By the end of third watch, the Buddha discovered the Four Noble Truths, finally reaching Nirvana.