Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam beats the drum to open the Bai Dinh Pagoda festival (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – The Bai Dinh Pagoda Festival officially opened inGia Vien district in the northern province of Ninh Binh on February 21 (thesixth day of the first lunar month), with the attendance of Deputy PrimeMinister Vu Duc Dam.
Delegates, Buddhist dignitaries andfollowers, and visitors offered incense and prayed for a peaceful new year.
The original 1,000 year-old Bai Dinh Pagoda(Bai Dinh Co Tu) is part of the Trang An Landscape Complex which was recognisedas a world Cultural and Natural Heritage Site by the United NationsEducational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
Thousands of visitors flock to the pagoda (Source: VNA)The pagoda is composed of templesworshipping Buddha, the Mountain God, and the Mother Goddess of the Forest. Itlies about 800 metres from the Tam The Temple of the new Bai Dinh Pagoda area.
The recent additions are considered thelargest Buddhist temple complex in Vietnam and currently hold several nationalrecord-setting relics, including the largest bronze Buddha statue (150 tonnes),the largest bronze bell (30 tonnes), and the largest number of Arhat statues(500).
The pagoda festival will last until the endof March.
An art performance at Huong Pagoda Festival (Source: VNA)The same day, a ceremony was held at HuongPagoda in Hanoi’s My Duc district to kick off the pagoda festival and receive acertificate recognising the Huong Son (Huong Pagoda) landscape and historicalsite complex as a special national relic site.
Nguyen Chi Thanh, head of the relic site’smanagement board, said that around 40,000 people visit Huong Pagoda on thefirst day of the festival.
During the lunar New Year (Tet) holiday,the pagoda welcomed 200,000 tourist arrivals, he added.
The Giong festival, recognised as part ofthe World Intangible Heritage, also opened in Hanoi’s Soc Son Temple on thesixth day of the first lunar month.
A palanquin procession at the Giong Festival of Soc Temple (Source: VNA)It will remain open to visitors until theeighth day of the first lunar month.
The festival celebrates Saint Giong, alegendary Vietnamese hero who fought against the northern invaders.
The legend says that once upon a time, apoor woman from Giong Village went to the rice paddy and saw a giant step.Curious, she stepped onto the step; not long after, she discovered she waspregnant and then gave birth to a son she named Giong. As a three-year old, theboy still didn’t know how to speak and never laughed. But when the country wasinvaded, the boy suddenly began to speak and asked the King to give him an ironhorse, an iron suit of armour and an iron rod, so that he could fight againstthe invaders. He then rose up to become a giant.
After having fought triumphantly the enemy,he and his horse went to Soc Mountain. On the mountain top, he removed hisarmour and flew onto the sky on his horse.
This festival is considered one moretestament to the indomitable spirit of the Vietnamese nation when pittedagainst foreign invaders.-VNA
VNA
