The Vu Lan festival which falls on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month is an occasion for Vietnamese people to express their gratitude toward their parents. Vietnamese show their appreciation and respect to their mom and dad by wearing roses and going vegan.
Many Vietnamese believe that releasing living creatures and not eating meat during Vu Lan festival and death anniversaries will help reduce bad karmas. Therefore, many people decide to go vegan on these days as a good deed to tribute their parents. Vegan offering trays thereby become common during Vu Lan Festival.
The habit of going vegan and visiting pagodas on the first and fifteenth days of each lunar month dates back from the Ly dynasty (1010-1225) as Buddhism grew very strong then. Nowadays, going vegan has crossed the boundary of the religion to become a trend of a healthy lifestyle.
Many experts hold that eating more vegetable and less meat not only improves physical but also mental health. Accordingly, people going vegan are said to have a more pleasant personality than those consume too much meat.
Realising the benefits of going vegan, a number of Vietnamese people even opt out meat for the entire 7th lunar month.-VNA
