Yen Bai: Dong Cuong Temple Festival attracts nearly 80,000 visitors and pilgrims over two days

DNHN - Van Yen District, Yen Bai Province, it is estimated that over the two days of the festival, the Dong Cuong Temple Festival attracted nearly 80,000 visitors to visit, make pilgrimages and participate in the festival’s activities.

According to the local elders, as well as those who have worked for many years in the Temple Management Board, there has never been a year when the Dong Cuong Temple welcomed as many visitors as this year, with a large number of visitors from the lowlands.

The Dong Cuong Temple Festival, Van Yen District, took place over two days, the 20th and 21st of February (the 11th and 12th of the first lunar month of the Year of the Dragon). At the festival, local people and visitors from all over the country were able to enjoy and immerse themselves in a unique spiritual cultural space of traditional rituals, expressing their respect for the Mother Goddess of the Upper Mountains, the deities, heroes and martyrs who have been associated with the mountains and rivers, protecting and supporting them so that the rains are favourable and the winds are gentle, the crops are good, and all the people are peaceful, prosperous and happy, such as The ritual of slaughtering a white buffalo to sacrifice to the Mother Goddess and offering it to heaven and earth at 00:00 on the Day of the Cat - the first lunar month; immediately after the buffalo slaughtering ritual, the people and visitors receive good luck for the beginning of spring from Mr Mo - the Chief Priest of the Temple. These are bags of good luck that have been offered to the temple as an offering so that the Mother Goddess will descend to show her favour and bestow blessings on all the people so that they will have good fortune and prosperity all year round; in particular, the ritual of carrying the Mother Goddess across the river and the ritual of offering the main feast with 36 dragon trays on the morning of the Day of the Cat in the first lunar month, expressing their sincere gratitude to the Mother Goddess of the Upper Mountains, the deities and the heroes and martyrs. In addition, the people and visitors were able to participate in sports activities, and folk games and enjoy the special products and cuisine of the localities in the district.

Through the festival, Van Yen District hopes to continue to promote the image of the Dong Cuong Temple, a national historical and cultural relic, to domestic and foreign visitors, gradually creating a breakthrough in the development of spiritual tourism, and contributing to the promotion of the local socio-economic development.

PV