The scenic spot of Huong Pagoda, designated by UNESCO as a world cultural heritage site, makes visitors cannot help having the feeling of losing in a world of fairies.
Huong Pagoda Festival is a traditional Vietnamese Buddhist celebration
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Huong Son attracts visitors not only with its wonderful landscape, but also with its sense of philosophy embodied inside its splendid caves, of which Huong Tich and Tuyet Son are the most impressive. Visitors are bewitched by the beauty of these cases which look half real and half unreal. That explains the reason why the cold weather cannot keep thousands of pilgrims and tourists away from the Huong Pagoda Festival, the nation’s longest and most elaborate annual festival.
Huong Pagoda Festival mainly consists of sightseeing trips to pagodas, temples and caves as well as visiting ceremonies to ask favours from Lord Buddha. Situated approximately 60 kilometers southwest from Hanoi, Huong Son boasts quite a few pagodas built in the Posterior Le Dynasty. Annually, a vast number of pilgrims have been flocking to the northern province of Hanoi’s My Duc District for the three-month Huong Pagoda Festival, enjoying the beauty of the Huong Son limestone mountains at a time when apricot trees are in bloom and pay tribute to Buddha, specifically to Avalokitasvara, one of Buddha's disciples.
Visitors are travelling on Yen Stream to make pilgrimage to Huong Pagoda
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According to the legend, a pilgrimage to Huong Pagoda in the spring will bring health, prosperity, good luck and happiness. And whether you believe in the story or not, there's no disputing that a trip like this offers a perfect chance to get closer to both nature and Vietnamese tradition.
Unlike many other festivals, the Huong Pagoda Festival does not centre around traditional games, but rather romantic trips to caves, pagodas and temples and participation in ceremonies to beseech favours from Lord Buddha. The Venerable Thich Minh Hien rang the bell to officially open the festival at the Huong Pagoda, on the sixth day of the first lunar month. The opening ceremony began at the Thien Tru Pagoda with pilgrims and tourists invited to take part in the incense offering ceremony. In order to warning up the festival’s lively ambience in the chilly weather, the traditional raditional songs and dances took place before and after the ceremony. Visitors attending Huong pagoda festival usually make some wishes and when they are worshipping Buddha’s in the pagoda, they pray for their wishes to come true. The visitors bring offerings with them from home, including boiled chickens, boiled pigs' heads and steamed sticky rice. After prayers, each person will take a small portion of the offering (called "lộc") which is then carried home for their family. Loc is a sacred and precious thing as it is believed to bring good luck to those who eat it. In addition, cultural activities and sporting contests are also held on the occasion of Huong Pagoda Festival: boat racing, climbing, folk song singing, etc. These festive activities take place throughout the festival.
A pilgrimage to the Huong Pagoda Festival cannot only be for religious reasons, but to see the numerous natural shapes that are typical of the landscape and the buildings that are valuable artifacts of the nation. When you make a pilgrimage to Huong Pagoda you are in the middle of nature at its best, with a gorgeous river, caves, and mountains.Therefore, people of different ages all so interested in the Huong Pagoda Festival.
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