Some 20 kilometers to the southwest of Hanoi, Thay Pagoda is a favorite among local Buddhist pilgrims. The festival is the opportunity to worship Zen Master Tu Dao Hanh.

According the press meeting, this year festival has been held since the first lunar month and will last through the third lunar month, and three main days of the festival will be on the 5th-7th days of the 3rd month.

During the three main festival days, historical rituals including liturgy rituals, moc duc ceremony (washing statues) and offering ceremonies for divines will be featured. The festival in the three days also includes intangible cultural performances originated from the locality and traditional folk games.

According to Chairman of the district people’s committee Nguyễn Đức Phương, Thay pagoda festival has attracted 75 thousand visitors for early months of 2018 as compared with 125 thousand visitors in the whole year 2017.

Along with linking activities with Tuan Chau tourist site and So Temple festival, the festival is expected to become a sequence of attractive destinations in Quoc Oai district.

DT (nhandan.com.vn)