What are the most famous spring festivals in Vietnam?

Huong Pagoda is not only famous for its sacredness but also for its beautiful natural landscape.

Festival of the Huong Pagoda

Huong Pagoda is not only famous for its sacredness but also for its beautiful natural landscape. The Huong Pagoda festival will be held from January 6th to the end of March in the Lunar Calendar. It is located in Huong Son village, My Duc district, Hanoi. On this occasion, Buddhists from around the country come to Huong Pagoda to go on a pilgrimage. Besides Buddhists, many tourists come here to pray for peace and luck. 

Buddhists often spend at least 2–3 days visiting all of the pagodas. Meanwhile, visitors choose one of three following journeys to visit Huong Pagoda within a day. These journeys include the Huong Tich route, the Thanh Son–Huong Dai route, and the Tuyet Son route.

The most popular route is the Huong Tich route because it is the main route where tourists can visit the main pagoda, the Huong Tich pagoda in Huong Son. On this route, visitors will visit Trinh Temple, Thien Tru Pagoda, Tien Son Cave, Giai Oan Pagoda, Tran Song Temple, Huong Tich Cave, and Hinh Bong Pagoda. Although there is now a convenient cable car line connecting destinations, many people, particularly Buddhists, prefer to climb on foot to Huong Tich Pagoda and other sites.

The assembly is the funniest part of the Lim Festival. 

Lim Festival

The Lim Festival will be held in Lim town, Tien Du district, Bac Ninh province from 11th to 14th January in the Lunar Calendar, in which the main day is on January 13th. 

There are two parts to the Lim Festival, including the ceremony and the assembly. The ceremony starts on January 13th with a procession. The procession, extending to nearly a kilometer, is crowded with a large number of people participating in wearing beautiful, colorful, extremely-fussy ancient clothes. 

The assembly is the funniest part of the Lim Festival. There are many folk games, such as martial arts, wrestling, chess matches, weaving competitions, cooking rice, and so on. In particular, there is a singing contest section among teams from villages in Bac Ninh. Teams will stand on boats in a lake, then row close to each other, and members of the teams will sing in response.

Yen Tu Pagoda is a complex of pagodas and temples at Yen Tu Mountain

Yen Tu festival

The Yen Tu Festival is one of the most important Buddhist festivals in Vietnam and is held from January 10th to March in the lunar calendar in the Truc Lam Yen Tu Cultural Center, Thuong Yen Cong village, Uong Bi city, Quang Ninh province. Yen Tu Pagoda is a complex of pagodas and temples at Yen Tu Mountain, one of the highest mountains in Quang Ninh province.  

During the Yen Tu festival, there are many Buddhist activities such as preaching, praying,… You can visit pagodas and temples from the feet to the top of Yen Tu mountain, such as Trinh Temple, Giai Oan Pagoda, Hoa Yen Pagoda, Dong Pagoda, where you can feel the wind, the fog, and the sunshine. 

At present, cable cars can transport passengers from their feet to each pagoda on Yen Tu Mountain within 20 minutes.

Every year, millions of visitors travel to Hung Temple to attend this festival.

Hung Kings’ Temple Festival

The Hung Kings’ Temple Festival will be held from the 8th to the 11th days of March in the Lunar Calendar in honor of the Hung Kings and their role in building the nation. In the course of ruling over Vietnam for 18 generations, the Hung Kings taught locals how to grow wet rice. 

Every year, millions of visitors travel to Hung Temple to attend this festival. A procession starts at the foot of the mountain and stops at every temple on the way to the highest temple. The procession will start at the entrance, which was built in 1917, the second year of the Khai Dinh (Nguyen Dynasty) period. Sequentially, the procession will go past Ha Temple, Stele House, Thien Quang Pagoda, Trung Temple, Hung Vuong Temple, Thuong Temple, Hung Vuong’s Mausoleum, and Well Temple. Besides the ceremony, the Hung Kings’ Temple Festival assembly contains many exciting folk games held to describe the lives of people in the Hung King’s era. 

Ba Den Mountain is located in Thach Tan village, Hoa Thach district, Tay Ninh city, Tay Ninh province.

Ba Den Mountain

Ba Den Mountain is located in Thach Tan village, Hoa Thach district, Tay Ninh city, Tay Ninh province. The main worshiping spirit on the mountain is Ba Den, also known as Linh Son Thanh Mau. She was worshiped in Dien Ba, in the middle of the mountain.

A little higher up, near the top of the mountain, is Mieu Son Than. Stop here, visitors, and feel the clouds are still flying under their feet, the wind is blowing very close to them, and even the fog in the early morning. From there, visitors can see the entire overview of Dau Tieng Lake, the largest artificial lake in Southeast Asia and a beautiful and large irrigation project in Vietnam.