On March 26, thousands of tourists from across the nation flocked to the land of Buddhism to join the Tay Thien Festival 2013 in Vinh Phuc Province.
The Tay Thien Festival commemorates the merit of Mother Lang Thi Tieu. She gathered troops and horses to help the Hung Kings fight the enemy and defend the country, teach people to cultivate rice and build a peaceful country. Thus, she is worshipped all year round.
Tay Thien, part of the primeval forest system of Tam Dao National Park, covers about 150 hectares and is located on the slope of Thach Ban Mountain under the Tam Dao Range.
The annual festival is organised to uphold traditional cultural values, cultural value standard, the moral of drinking water but remembering the source, and the pride of the country in the fighting against the enemy to build and protect the country.
The event is one of the three typical contents of the Vinh Phuc Culture - Tourism Week, and is part of the National Tourism Year in the Red River Delta and Hai Phong. It includes the announcing ceremony, procession ceremony and incense offering ceremony. The festive activities are swings, Soong-Co singing of the San Riu ethnic group, and Chung and Day cake making competitions.
In the first two months of 2013, Tay Thien greets more than 270,000 visitors, a three-fold increase compared to the same period last year.