QUANG NINH — The first month of the Lunar New Year is the perfect time to make pilgrimage trips to pagodas and temples around the country to pray for happiness, good luck and prosperity in the year ahead.

One surely worth visiting is Yen Tu Mountain in Quang Ninh Province, which is known as the holy land of Vietnamese Buddhism and attracts thousands of pilgrims in the first lunar month coming to find peace of mind and meditation.

Tourists should attend the Yen Tu Spring Festival, the longest festival in the northern region, which lasts from the 10th of the first lunar month, which falls on February 25 this year, to the end of the third month.

The festival is awash with traditional rituals, folk games, festivities and art performances to commemorate the king who founded the Truc Lam Zen sect in the late 13th century, laying the foundation for Buddhism in the country. — VNS