Danang Avalokiteśvara Festival is one of the largest spiritual activities in the coastal city. Let’s enjoy the experience of discovering this cultural feature of Da Thanh right away!
Participating in the Avalokiteśvara Festival is an extremely fascinating experience during your journey to explore Da Nang tourism. This folk festival is held in the Ngu Hanh Son tourist area and has bold elements of Buddhist beliefs. This is an opportunity to pray for the country’s people to be safe and for everyone to have a prosperous, peaceful and lucky life.
1. Where is the Avalokiteshvara Festival held?
Festival location: Avalokiteśvara Festival (Avalokiteśvara festival) is held on the grounds of Avalokiteśvara Pagoda in Da Nang – attractive Da Nang tourist destination. This place is located in the area of Ngu Hanh Son tourist area, Ngu Hanh Son district, Da Nang city.
Festival time: Da Nang Avalokiteśvara Festival takes place on the 19th day of the second lunar month every year. The festival is usually held for 3 – 4 days with two parts: ceremony and festival. The Avalokiteśvara Festival carries many great values in regional customs and culture.
2. History of Avalokiteśvara festival in Da Nang
Avalokiteśvara Festival is one of the large-scale Da Nang festivals and attracts many people to participate. History of the Avalokitesvara Festival in Da Nang:
In 1960, on the occasion of the inauguration of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara statue in Hoa Nghiem cave at Thuy Son mountain, the Avalokiteśvara festival was held for the first time. This traditional folk festival originated from the ceremony of Avalokiteshvara Buddha.
In 1962, on the occasion of the inauguration of Quan Am Pagoda in Da Nang, the Avalokiteśvara Festival was held for the second time.
After not being held for a long time, in 1991, the Avalokiteśvara festival was restored and takes place again to this day.
On February 3, 2021, the Ministry of Culture – Sports – Tourism officially recognized the Avalokiteshvara festival as an Intangible Cultural Heritage in Da Nang.
Danang Avalokiteśvara Festival 2021 will not be held due to the epidemic.
3. Avalokitesvara Marble Mountains Festival – a unique spiritual culture
Along with the Cau Ngu festival, the Avalokiteśvara festival is a unique spiritual culture of the people of Da Nang. Let’s explore unique rituals and extremely interesting entertainment activities here!
3.1. Ceremony part – sacred Buddhist ritual colors
The ceremony of the Avalokiteśvara festival in Da Nang includes rituals belonging to Buddhist beliefs such as:
The light procession is held on February 18 of the lunar calendar, including palanquin procession, torch procession, lion dance, and dragon dance.
The opening ceremony takes place in the early morning of the 19th day of the 2nd lunar month to pray for peace and good weather and wind for the country and people.
The Trai Dan Dianh Te Ceremony is held on the morning of the 19th day of the 2nd lunar month to worship ten types of sentient beings and pray for those who have passed away.
The lecture ceremony on Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva takes place on the morning of the 19th day of the second lunar month to praise the Buddha’s compassion and pray for the people’s prosperous lives and the country’s prosperity.
The procession of the Avalokiteshvara statue takes place at around 10 a.m. on the 19th day of the second lunar month to pray for peace and luck for fishermen at sea and those doing business on the river.
The ceremony also includes many other activities such as the Avalokiteśvara costume ceremony, the ceremony of giving thanks with flowers and lanterns…
3.2. The festival part of the Avalokiteśvara festival is unique and new
The festival part of the Avalokiteśvara festival in Da Nang has many exciting activities with unique cultural – artistic – sports values:
The festival part has experiences combining traditional culture with modern culture such as masquerade, chess competition, opera singing, folk singing, music – painting, four-spirit dance, tug-of-war, sculpture, floating lanterns river…
The festival also includes exhibitions such as ink painting and calligraphy exhibitions.
The festival part is where contests take place such as explanations about Marble Mountains, vegetarian cooking contests…
Avalokiteśvara Festival is an attractive destination for Buddhists, people, domestic tourists as well as international tourists to attend, admire, experience, and learn about spiritual values imbued with history. – Vietnamese Buddhist culture. At the same time, the Festival is also one of the most important Buddhist folk events in Da Nang, where the values of Buddhist culture and people of the Marble Mountains land crystallize; is a place to converge, exchange culture and enjoy the sophistication and richness of ethnic cultural art forms in the world.
