VietNamNet - Over 10,000 foreign tourists have flocked to the Huong (Perfume) Pagoda Festival in My Duc district, northern Ha Tay province, since it opened on Feb. 3, the sixth day of the lunar New Year.

The figure brought the total number of visitors to this year’s festival to nearly 300,000, around 23,000 more than last year, said the provincial Tourism Department on Mar. 7.

Visitors to the festival, which lasts for three months, enjoy the beauty of the Huong Son limestone mountains at a time when apricot trees are in bloom and pay tribute to Buddha, specifically to Avalokitasvara, one of Buddha's disciples.

Legend has it that the festival is held to worship a princess named Dieu Thien who incarnated Avalokitasvara and attained enlightenment there. As the princess was born on the 19th day of the second lunar month, that date is now observed by all Vietnamese Buddhists as a saint day. The shrine in which she practised her religion was discovered in the 15th century by three monks.

However, it was not until 1687 when the Superior Bonze Tran Dao Vien Quang came to the place, and Huong Son (Perfume Mountain) was transformed into a major Buddhist sanctuary and the greatest place of worship for Buddhists in Vietnam.

The pilgrimage to Huong Son dwindled to a trickle during the war years and the temples and shrines were left vacant. In 1958, after the restoration of peace in North Vietnam, the Government and President Ho Chi Minh personally gave instructions for the repair of the pagodas and temples and the restoration of the festival.

(Source: VNA)