The Ngoa Van spring festival officially opened in the northern province of Quang Ninh on February 16 (the 9th day of the first lunar month).
The event saw the presence of Vice State President Nguyễn Thị Doan.
The annual festival is expected to create an opportunity for Buddhist monks, nuns and followers across Vietnam to make a pilgrimage to the national relic site Ngoa Van pagoda, which is considered a holy land of the Vietnamese Truc Lam Zen Monastery.
The Ngoa Van festival is scheduled to run for three months.
On the same day, the inauguration of the upgrade of Ngoa Van pagoda also took place.
The pagoda, located on Bao Dai Mountain in Dong Trieu town, is where King-Monk Tran Nhan Tong, the third king of the Tran dynasty and the founder of Truc Lam Zen Monastery, attained Nirvana.
The upgrade of Ngoa Van Pagoda began in 2014 with a total investment of nearly VND90 billion (nearly US$4 million).
