Avalokitecvara festival

Avalokitecvara festival is celebrated every year at the Beautiful landscape of the Marble Mountains of Danang city. It was first celebrated in 1960 on the opening of Bo Tat Quan The Am statue in Hoa Nghiem cavern, Thuy Son mountain, the west of Ngu Hanh Son.

After 2 years, the festival was celebrated on the opening of Avalokitecvara pagoda, Quan Am cavern where they found a stalactite whose shape is like Avalokitecvara. After that, due to some reasons, the festival was not celebrated for a long time until the Avalokitecvara spirit anniversary on 19th February, 1991 (Tan Mui Year). After that, the festival is held on the 19th February (Lunar Calendar) every year with a bigger size and better content.

Avalokitecvara festival lasts for 3 days including: PHAN LE VA PHAN HOI

PHAN LE: Buddha features....

- Le ruoc anh sang: It is often held in the evening of the 18th including torch parade, sedan chair parade, lion dance, dragon dance to pray for the leading of the light which means bright mind in Buddhism. The bright mind will accompany with good soul and personality and help people do more charities.

- Le khai kinh: it is often held in the early morning of the 19th to pray for the peaceful and prosperous life.

- Le trai dan chan te: it is often held in the morning of the 19th to pray for the peace of the soul and worship the ten creatures. The Buddhists often send the list of their dead relatives to the pagoda to pray for the peace of their souls. There must be a Buddhist with high position to carry out the ceremony.

-The lecture about Bodhisattva Avalokitecvara and the people: it is often held in the morning of the 19th to praise the good soul of Bodhisattva Avalokitecvara and to pray for the peaceful and prosperous life.

- Avalokitecvara's statue parade: It is often held after the above ceremony at 10am, 19th. There are 4 persons who carry the sedan chair with the Buddha’s statue go first and the Buddhists follow them. The sedan chair is carried from the pagoda to the small boat on Cau Bien river (one branch of Co Co river. The main aim of he ceremony is to pray for the safety and prosperity of the fishermen. Apart from the above ceremony, there is also a spring ceremony to worship the wood, water genies to pray for the peaceful and prosperous life. It is often held in the evening in the 18th. During this ceremony, the old men of the Hoa Hai ward, Hoa Quy district in the formal clothes carrying flags, torches, lanterns go first and the music band with drums and gongs follows them. After the ceremony and the funeral oration, the old men will lead the parade to Cau Bien riverbank to open the light festival and then from Avalokitecvara pagoda, they go around the streets and Non Nuoc villages to Non Nuoc tourism resort and return to the ceremony stand after 2 km walk.

PHAN HOI: There are many traditional and modern cultural-sport activities such as disguise festival, folk songs, chest, painting, music, sculpture competition, "tu linh" dance, tuong, etc. There are also many cultural activities such as calligraphy and Chinese ink painting museum, the eloquence contest about the Marble Mountains, vegetarian diet cooking competition, etc.

The festival held at good natural place has attracted many pilgrimage and the tourists from many different regions to the west of the Marble Mountains. On the village common, people play the traditional game called "keo co". You can also hear the shouting of the people who joined the regattas in Co Co River. When the night falls, the festival is more attractive with many colors and sounds. After the performance  “Ngu Hanh Son legend" at the main stage is the torch parade across the main streets of Ngu Hanh Son district. The Buddhists put their wishes into the small light lanterns and drop them onto the river to pray for the long lasting bright mind. With many traditional culture and sport activities, Avalokitecvara festival is the religious one but very popular in the people's life. It has restored and developed the traditional characteristics of the Vietnamese.
Avalokitecvara festival is held to pray for the peaceful and prosperous life and to give people the opportunity to live better in the summer atmosphere.

Source:Danangpt