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Lesson Transcript

Hey guys, welcome to Cantonese holiday words by cantoneseclass101.com with me Olivia. In these holiday words series, we are going to talk about some holidays and events in Hong Kong. In this video, we are going to talk about 佛誕(fat6 daan3).
佛誕 (fat6 daan3) is Buddha's birthday.
Buddha's birthday is the birthday of Buddha. So we have a day off and let’s see what are the holiday words. 佛誕 (fat6 daan3) Buddha's birthday. Buddha is 佛 (fat6) and 誕 (daan3) is birthday or to be born. So Buddha's birthday is 佛誕 (fat6 daan3).
In a sentence, 今年佛誕喺五月二十五號。(gam1 nin4 fat6 daan3 hai2 ng5 jyut6 ji6 sap6 ng5 hou6.) “This year’s Buddha’s birthday is on May 25th”. So the Buddha’s birthday is calculated in the lunar calendar. So in 2015, the Buddha’s birthday is on May 25th but in 2016, it’s on 14th of May. So it’s different every year.
佛教 (fat6 gaau3) Buddhism.
佛 (fat6) is Buddha, and 教 (gaau3) is “the study of” or “to teach”. So the study of Buddha is Buddhism.
我婆婆係佛教徒。 (ngo5 po4 po2 hai6 fat6 gaau3 tou4.) “My grandmother was a Buddhist.” So Buddha’s birthday is of course celebrated by Buddhists everywhere.
Let’s see what’s the next word.
廟 (miu2) is temple, temple or shrine.
年初一我哋去廟度上香。(nin4 co1 jat1 ngo5 dei6 heoi3 miu2 dou6 soeng5 hoeng1.) “On the 1st day of Lunar New Year, we go to the temple to burn incense and pay respect.”
放假 (fong3 gaa3) To have a day off, to have a holiday.
In Hong Kong, Buddha's birthday is a public holiday but it’s not the case in other Chinese societies, I don’t think so yeah, not in China, not in Taiwan. So only in Hong Kong, we have a day off on Buddha’s birthday.
聽日放假喎,我哋做咩好呢?(ting1 jat6 fong3 gaa3 wo3, ngo5 dei6 zou6 me1 hou2 ne1?) “We are having a day off tomorrow, what should we do?” Let’s go fishing!
行善 (hang4 sin6) is to do good deeds.
行 (hang4) is to execute, 善 (sin6) is kindness. So to do good deeds. In a sentence, 每日行善可以積德。(mui5 jat6 hang4 sin6 ho2 ji3 zik1 dak1.) “Do good deeds every day and you can get good karma.” And I think that’s the spirit for Buddhism, doing good deeds and you will have good karma.
So that’s it for today. In this video, we talked about Buddha's birthday and I will see you next time at Cantonese holiday words. I am Olivia, bye! 下次見! (haa6 ci3 gin3!)

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