The Yen Tu Spring Festival officially kicked off on February 6,
the 10th day of the first lunar month, at the Yen Tu historical site in Uong Bi
City, the northern province of Quang Ninh.
The festival will feature a range of activities, including traditional rituals
and folk games.
According to the festival management board, the Yen Tu historical site welcomed
136,000 visitors during the first six days of the lunar month, up 3 percent over
the same period last year.
The number of visitors to the site is expected to hit 2 million during this
year’s festival.
Yen Tu Mountain is located about 50 kilometres from Ha Long City. The area has a
beautiful natural landscape and awe-inspiring scenery, surrounded by ancient
pagodas and hermitages.
The pilgrimage route, which winds from the foot of the mountain to its pinnacle,
is almost 30 kilometres. Dong Pagoda, which sits atop the mountain’s highest
peak, is more than a kilometre above sea level.
In the 13th century, King-Monk Tran Nhan Tong (1258-1308), the third king of the
Tran dynasty, abdicated the throne when he was 35 and spent the rest of his life
on Yen Tu Mountain, practising and propagating Buddhism. He founded the first
Vietnamese School of Buddhism called “Thien Tong” or Truc Lam Yen Tu Zen on the
1,068m-high Yen Tu Mountain. The 20,000ha site is considered the capital of
Vietnamese Buddhism.
Besides numerous temples, it also preserves many old religious and cultural
documents such as precious prayer-books and monks’ writings.
With its significant historical, cultural and natural values, Yen Tu was
recognised as a Special National Relic Site in September 2012. It was also
selected as one of the 10 most popular spiritual destinations in Viet Nam by the
Viet Nam Records Organisation.
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