(Cinet)- Although the festival officially opened on Feburary 24, the perfume pagoda festival has been one of the most famous cultural and spiritual tourism destinations in the north of the country.
As many as 50.000 people flocked to the holy site in Ha Noi’s suburban My Duc District on the opening day of the increasingly popular three-month long Huong Pagoda Festival.
Over the last few decades, the festival has become a favourite spiritual and cultural activity of Vietnamese people, and even attracts foreign tourists. The annual festival, the longest-such event in the country, opens on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year.
The festival’s organising board has also set up a market-watch team that will carry out regular checks to ensure that restaurants and other eateries maintain food safety and hygiene. To protect the Buddha statues and other objects of worships, pilgrims this year are not allowed to light incense sticks and joss papers.
Tens of thousands of people have headed to the pagoda since the second day of Lunar New Year, which this year fell on February 20. The price of admission to the pagoda has remained unchanged at VND85,000, including boat transportation on the Yen Stream.Around 5,000 rowing boats are docked at the Duc pier on the stream, ready to transport visitors to the main shrines.
Built between the 18th and 19th centuries, the Huong Pagoda complex features a large number of shrines and natural caves filled with marvellous stalactites and stalagmites. The festival, which runs until mid-May, is expected to attract about 1.5 million visitors this year.
Đăng ký: VietNam News