Hương Pagoda Festival

Located in Mỹ Đức - Hà Nội, 65 km from central Hà Nội, of Hương Sơn heritage

area, Mỹ Đức district, Hà Tây province, a huge festival is organized for the
worshipping and praying of Bodhisattva (Quan Thế Âm Bồ Tát) and the Mother
Goddess

The festival begins on the 18th, February on the Vietnamese calendar, or 6 th

January on the original calendar. The festival lasted 3 months, which makes it the
longest festival of Việt Nam

While traveling to the festival, visitors travel 2 hours by boat on the beautiful Yến
stream. The trip begins at Thiên Trù pagoda, to Đục harbor. From there visitors trek
the rest of the way, reaching Hương pagoda, while enjoying the beautiful mountainous
views

The ceremony: The offering for the ceremony consists of incense, flowers,
candles, fruits and vegan. Inside there are two monks, who do gentle dances while the
music instruments play. All types of incense are lit continuously during the festival.

- Certain problems:
 Littering: visitors often leave large amount of plastic and food waste on the
mountain and in the river
 There are not enough boats to accommodate tourists to the destination

https://www.insidevietnamtravel.com/travel-guide/huong-pagoda-festival.html
 Gióng Festival
Located in Phù Đổng commune, Gia Lâm district. The Gióng festival originated
from a legend, told about a little that was barely 3 years old. His name was Gióng,
which meant the bamboo shoot. One day the VI Hùng king found the one who can
help to fight against Ân - invaders. The boy then told his mother that he wanted to join
the army, and asked for a metal horse and a sword. He then ate tons of food, grew into
a giant man and crushed all invaders. After the victory, he headed to the heaven, and
became an immortal saint that will always protect the people.
Thánh Gióng festival, also known as Phù Đổng festival, is the biggest festival in
the Northern part of Vietnam. It has the age of over 1000 years. The festival is to
honor the immortal ideology, or belief of a true hero, who can just be a little boy, with
a fighting spirit of a man, which represents the younger generation as the future of a
nation.
The festival lasted 3 days, from the 7th to the 9th of April (Vietnamese calendar),
every year. The preparation for the ceremony is very complex, consisting of over a
dozen activities that need to be prepared months before the festival. There are a wide
range of traditional rituals such as the opening ceremony, the procession, the offering
of incense, and the offering of bamboo flowers to Thuong Temple, which is the place
of worshiping Thánh Gióng. The Gióng festival was recognized as an intangible
cultural heritage of the world by UNESCO on 16th, November 2010, at Nairobi city
(the capital of Kenya).

https://english.vtv.vn/news/giong-festival-opens-in-
hanoi-20160214155026405.htm
 Cổ Loa festival
An Dương Vương temple:

An Dương Vương was the great king of Âu Lạc, the second goverment of the
second nation after Văn Lang of the Hùng kings. An Dương Vương temple is located
in Đông Anh district, 17km from the central Hà Nội capital.

The temple lies inside the ancient Cổ Loa citadel, including Ngự Triều Duy Quy
temple and Bà Chúa shrine or Mỵ Châu shrine, the daughter of King An Dương
Vương. From Bà Chúa shrine, travel a bit more to reach An Dương Vương temple,
also called Thượng temple, and Vua Chủ temple (Owner King temple). In front of it,
there is Ngọc well’s shrine. There is also a small shrine for the gold tortoise Kim Quy,
who provided An Dương Vương an godlike crossbow.

The festival started from the 6th of January and lasted 10 days. Every year, the 12
villages of Cổ Loa Commune join hands in organizing the festival, which usually
begin on the 6th of the first lunar month.

Early on the morning of the first day of the first lunar month, 12 notables from
each village come to the house of the chief notable in order to prepare for the
procession which starts soon thereafter. Opening the procession is the music band,
followed by the chief notable and the 12 village notables, and then the villagers carry
various offerings to King An Dương Vương.

The chief notable leads at the religious ceremony in honor of the King, among the
sound of music from the band. The nobles are followed by inhabitants. All beg the
King to bestow peace and prosperity to
the village.

The ceremony lasts until 1 or 2 pm,

which is followed by a general
procession, with the participation of all
the 12 villages, in honor of the King.
 https://scootersaigontour.com/co-loa-festival-in-hanoi-vietnam/

Thầy Pagoda Festival

Thầy Pagoda is in Sài Sơn commune, Quốc Oai district, Hà Tây province,
where the shaman Từ Đạo Hạnh is worshiped with his 3 lives. He is the Sangha,
the Buddha, the King and is considered by the people as the father of
Vietnamese water puppetry.
Taking place from the 5th to the 7th day of the 3rd lunar month every year, the
7th day of the 3rd lunar month is the main festival. The festival opens with a
ceremony to worship Buddha and play the lute - a religious performance with a
combination of national and dignified musical instruments. The crowd was
drawn to the rhythm of chanting the monks' sutras.
 
During the festival days, there are also many games, especially guests can see
the unique art of Vietnamese water puppetry that the stage performs right in
front of Thuỷ Đình. There are many puppet shows such as Thạch Sanh, Tấm
Cám or scenes of folk activities such as plowing, ducking, and wrestling.
 
Visiting the Thầy Pagoda Festival, in addition to the Buddha ceremony, guests
also enjoy climbing mountains and enjoying the natural scenery of the land of
Đoài. In addition, guests can also visit the countryside famous for its culture
associated with legends about famous people, Zen masters of many eras who
have come here and enrich the traditional values of this scenic land. . 

The scale and architecture of Thầy Pagoda is unique, with a system of precious
statues. Crossing Nguyệt Tiên Kiều Bridge, is the way to the mountain, on the
way up the mountain is Cao Pagoda with Thánh Hoá cave (it is said that Zen
master Từ Đạo Hạnh dumped his body to be
reincarnated as King Lý Thần Tông); There
is Các Cớ cave (the same place is where the
insurgent army of the Lã family). There is a
market on the mountain. From Các Cớ cave
up to Thượng temple, continue to go to Bối
Am pagoda (Một Mái pagoda), next to the
temple there is a memorial temple of Phan
Huy Chú, there is a memorial house of Uncle
Ho...
https://mytour.vn/location/2477-le-hoi-chua-thay.html