Preparations have been wrapped up for the Huong (Perfume) Pagoda Festival, one of the biggest celebrations in the Lunar New Year. Everything is ready to welcome thousands of Buddhist pilgrims.
The opening ceremony of the Huong Pagoda is held on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, which falls on January 30. The pagoda is a vast complex of Buddhist temples and shrines built in the limestone Huong Tich mountains in Huong Son commune, My Duc district, Hanoi. |
The Huong Pagoda festival attracts thousands of visitors and Buddhist followers. |
This year, the religious site is expected to welcome 40,000 – 50,000 people coming to pray and show reverence to Buddha. |
According to the organizing board, during five days of Tet, the number of visitors to the Huong pagoda increasingly amounted to 15,000, of them, 3.7 thousand visited the site on the fifth day. |
Around 2,000 tourists booked hotels around Thien Tru Pagoda, Yen stream and Huong Pagoda the night before the opening of the Huong Pagoda Festival. |
Huong Pagoda has been swathed with visitors on Tet. |
According to some local traders, the number of overnight tourists was not as huge as previous years. |
Motor whaleboats are still rampant at Yen Stream despite discouragement. During the first three days of Lunar New Year, the organizers penalized and banned as many as 30 of unlicensed motor whaleboats. |
Sanitation workers relentlessly collect garbage discharged directly to the Yen stream. |
Meanwhile, the preparation in Thien Tru pagoda is finished for the opening of the festival. |
According to a representative of the Management Board of Huong Son tourism site, the opening ceremony would be shorter than the previous year to comply with the instruction of thrifty celebrations by the government. |
