Thay Pagoda Festival opens, honors traditional cultural values

THE HANOI TIMES — Many cultural activities are being held to celebrate Thay Pagoda Festival in Hanoi to honor traditional values and mark the Quoc Oai District 2025 Culture Tourism and Trade Promotion Week.

Held from April 2 to 4, the festival is a typical folk celebration associated with the special national relic of Thay Pagoda, featuring a cutting-edge light and sound performance combined with Vietnamese folk arts.

Located in Sai Son Commune, Quoc Oai District, about 20 kilometers from downtown Hanoi, the Thay Pagoda is a special national relic that stands serenely in the hazy mist atop the stunning Mt. Sai.

Built more than 1,000 years ago, the pagoda has undergone historical changes and several restorations and embellishment, but retains its unique architecture with a typical set of statues.

Thay pagoda, one of the oldest pagodas in Vietnam, is a popular tourist destination. The festival is the largest one in "Xu Doai" area which covers a vast land of Son Tay Town, Thach That and Quoc Oai districts, bustling with a large crowd of festival-goers and lively traditional folk games in a lovely hilly area.

According to Hoang Nguyen Ung, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Quoc Oai District, the Thay Pagoda Festival has been well known since ancient times, and every year it welcomes tens of thousands of domestic and international visitors.

"The festival aims to honor traditional and cultural values, promote the value of intangible cultural heritage in Quoc Oai District, and utilize the potential and artistic values of the Thay Pagoda National Special Relic Complex for local development," Ung said.

The festival includes ceremonies, religious rites, a procession, folk games, folk dancing and singing, water puppet shows, gong performances and others.

The series aim at celebrating cultural values and the traditional Thay Pagoda Festival, projecting the image of Quoc Oai as a "safe - friendly - quality - attractive" tourist destination, and boosting the local tourism industry, the official stressed.

Every year, from the fifth to the seventh day of the third lunar month, the largest festival in Xu Doai, the sacred land with rich cultural assets, is held in honor of Tu Dao Hanh, a revered Vietnamese Buddhist monk who lived during the Ly Dynasty (1010-1225).

Zen master Tu Dao Hanh, as the locals called him, was also a physician and mystic who healed the impoverished sick without asking for payment. He taught the villagers cultivation and the art of water puppetry, which is now an integral part of  Vietnamese culture .

Visitors to the Thay Pagoda Festival can experience the water puppet shows depicting local daily life and production; participate in folk games such as human chess, swinging, blindfolded pot banging and tug-of-war; and enjoy traditional cultural and artistic performances, including the UNESCO heritage quan ho or love duet singing.

In addition, the 2025 Quoc Oai District Culture-Tourism and Trade Promotion Week is underway at Thay Pagoda, with 150 booths showcasing and promoting culture, tourism, culinary and handicraft village products.