Northern Vietnamese people love going to the pagoda in the first three months after Chinese New Year. There are so many pagoda festivals in different areas and the more famous pagodas attract the most people. The main reason people go is to pray for good health and success in business.
Here, there and everywhere people put incense, the smell, the smoke and the non-stop praying give the impression that these places are very holy.
My friends and I went to Ba Chua Kho temple, one of the most famous temples in the north which is always crowded on special days. Even though it was such a cold and rainy day, there were still so many people there. It took me 20 minutes to get into the temple centre to take a few pictures and have a good look at the pagoda and see
people praying. There were so many people praying for their family, reading out a list of friends and relatives' names so loud that god could probably hear their voices. I hope so.
As I mentioned in my other
post, these festivals give so many people a chance to work by carrying the offering trays, exchanging money and lighting incense. There are food businesses and souvenir shops, also.
If you have a chance to go to Bac Ninh province, don't forget to visit this pagoda. It's worth visiting for the day to say a special prayer for the one you care for.
12 comments:
I love all the flowers and fruit and COLOR!
Beautiful pictures!! Looks like so much fun!
Those are giant incense. It must be filled with smoke around the place with all those huge incense.
It sounds like I wouldn't want to miss visiting the pagodas if were over there. A lot to see and learn.
to be spiritual...even if it's only a visit to a sacred place..is good for the soul..especially urban creatures like us :)
Temples and religious festivals are an integral part of South East Asian culture.
I'm looking forward to visiting Bangkok in near future. Any recommended sites??
Hi,
Hasan Mubarak, I heard people say that the Golden Pagoda is a great place to go, check it out.
FRIDAY'S CHILD, you can see the bigger incense sticks if you come to some pagodas in the south.
Tim Rice, good to visit pagoda because you can learn some culture in there as well.
I love the pagodas. Something serene about it. And the smell of incense brings back childhood memories. My mother practiced budhism. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with it.
BTW, I saw your cell phone comment on virtualdoug and was wondering - what is the cost (in VN or USD) of cell phone service in Vietnam. Just curious. May be you should write a blog on this. How do people afford it? Do only young people have it?
Hi Thuy, I agree with you. I will post about Mobile really soon.
Thanks.
This can't work in reality, that is exactly what I suppose.
Thanks for the article, very helpful information.
I really like asian cultures because of the ancient stories and also the festivals, they are really cool, you can find many different things and many people to know that you wish, you could live 500 years and have enough money to go everywhere.
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