The Tay Yen Tu (West Yen Tu) Spring Festival and the Culture - Tourism Week 2023 of the northern province of Bac Giang took place at the Tay Yen Tu spiritual and ecological tourism complex from February 2 – 6.
The events were attended by Member of the Party Central Committee, Editor-in-Chief of Nhan Dan (People) Newspaper, Deputy Head of the Party Central Committee's Commission for Information and Education, and Chairman of the Vietnam Journalists’ Association Le Quoc Minh, and Secretary of the provincial Party Committee Duong Van Thai, and crowds of Buddhist followers and visitors.
In his speech at the opening ceremony on February 2, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Giang Mai Son said the Tay Yen Tu tourism complex, located on the path of propagating the Dharma of the founders of the Truc Lam Yen Tu Buddhist sect, holds a special position for developing cultural, spiritual, ecological, and relaxation tourism.
Given this, Bac Giang is developing a tourism space and working with nearby Quang Ninh and Hai Duong provinces to compile a dossier seeking UNESCO recognition of the Yen Tu - Vinh Nghiem - Con Son, Kiep Bac landscape complex as world heritage.
The recognition will help promote tourism as well as economic, cultural, and social development in the region, the official noted, Son said.
Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hoang Dao Cuong requested Bac Giang to continue to raise public awareness; put culture on par with economy; coordinate with the ministry to organise the 3rd National Tourism Conference; mobilise all resources to invest in tourism development; and develop new tourism products.
The Tay Yen Tu Spring Festival and the Bac Giang Culture - Tourism Week featured 15 main activities and a wide range of cultural, sport, and tourism events, which will be held in Son Dong, Yen Dung, Luc Nam, and Luc Ngan districts.
Notably, a procession of the set of woodblocks carved with the poem “Cu tran lac dao phu” took place on February 2, bringing the set from Vinh Nghiem Pagoda in Yen Dung district to Thuong Pagoda in the Tay Yen Tu complex.
The woodblocks on “Cu tran lac dao phu”, written in the Nom and Han (Chinese) scripts, are among the Buddhist woodblocks kept at the Vinh Nghiem Pagoda that were listed as documentary heritage in the Memory of the World Programme for the Asia-Pacific region.
The 70km-long procession aimed to honour the ideological values of the Truc Lam Yen Tu Buddhist sect and re-enact the sect founders’ path of propagating the Dharma. It was recognised by the Vietnam Records Organisation (VietKings) as the biggest of its kind held in Buddhist rituals in Vietnam./.
