Highlights of the opening night of Thay Pagoda Festival 2025

The Thay Pagoda Festival in 2025 will be held from April 2 to 4 (from the 3rd to the 7th of the third lunar month) with traditional, unique and special rituals such as: Opening ceremony, bathing ceremony, receiving the tablet ceremony, opening ceremony and special art performances.

Within the framework of the event, the Cultural, Tourism and Trade Promotion Week of Quoc Oai district in 2025 took place. The program was held from April 1 to 5, with more than 150 booths introducing and promoting cultural, tourism, culinary, craft village products, OCOP products in neighboring provinces, cities, districts and in Quoc Oai district...

special opening night 2025 picture 1 — Vice Chairman of Quoc Oai District People's Committee Hoang Nguyen Ung beats the drum to open the Thay Pagoda festival in 2025.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the festival, Mr. Hoang Nguyen Ung - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Quoc Oai district said: "The traditional festival of Thay Pagoda and the Cultural, Tourism and Trade Promotion Week of Quoc Oai district in 2025 are a series of important political and cultural events of the district. The program is organized with the aim of honoring cultural values, traditional festivals, preserving, embellishing and promoting the value of intangible cultural heritages in the district; gradually exploiting the potential and cultural and artistic values of the Thay Pagoda national special relic complex in the direction of developing cultural and historical tourism.

Through cultural activities, trade promotion, tourism in the program, Quoc Oai district also wishes to promote the image of the land and people of Quoc Oai, an attractive destination with many intangible cultural heritages, craft villages, diverse local culinary cultural products. At the same time, contributing to enhancing the position, image and people of Quoc Oai; continue to build the image of Quoc Oai district tourism as a "Safe - friendly - quality - attractive" destination commensurate with the history and traditional culture of the district".

special opening night 2025 picture 2 — Special drum performance at the opening ceremony of Thay Pagoda festival in 2025.

The Thay Pagoda Festival has long been known as a typical folk festival of the Doai region associated with Thay Pagoda - a special national monument, taking place from the 5th to the 7th of the third lunar month. The festival commemorates Zen master Tu Dao Hanh, a Zen master under the Ly Dynasty, who was also the founder of the Thanh To worship - a belief that had a great influence on the Vietnamese people during the Ly - Tran Dynasty, the founder of the traditional water puppetry profession.

The Thay Pagoda Festival consists of two parts: Rituals and folk performances. The main rituals that are still preserved are: the opening ceremony, the bathing ceremony, the ceremony of receiving the tablet - the ceremony of placing the tablet; the offering ceremony and the procession ceremony.

"The festival is a symbol of solidarity and deep community connection between villages and hamlets participating in the festival. The festival creates a healthy, joyful and exciting atmosphere in the village, contributing to pushing social evils out of the community, making society stable and sustainable" - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Quoc Oai district emphasized.