Intangible Cultural Flavors at the Perfume Pagoda Festival: Preserving the Quintessence in the Heart of Time

Every spring, when the pure white apricot blossoms bloom all over the Huong Son mountains and forests, thousands of Buddhists from all over the country eagerly visit the Huong Pagoda festival, a sacred place filled with cultural colors and scents. This is not only an occasion to pray for a peaceful new year, but also a spiritual journey back to the roots, a place that preserves and promotes the unique intangible cultural values of the Vietnamese people.

"Huong Pagoda has a wide sky and long river,

The water is clear and the outside door is south.

Who painted the fairy scene, who was mortal?

The sound of drums from the blue world has been transmitted for thousands of years.

The Perfume Pagoda Festival is held annually in Huong Son Commune, My Duc District, Hanoi , starting on the 6th day of the first lunar month and lasting for three months. This is a large and long-standing festival, carrying within it the folk belief of worshipping the Three Gods. Legend has it that Princess Dieu Thien practiced asceticism for nine years in Huong Son, then attained enlightenment and became a Buddha in the middle of spring, when hundreds of flowers bloomed. Therefore, the Perfume Pagoda Festival has become a symbol of harmony between humans and nature, between spirituality and life.

The festival takes place from January to March every year. Photo: Collected[/caption] The highlight of the festival is the opening ceremony, which takes place on the opening day of the festival. This ceremony is not simply to open the forest, but also has a profound meaning, as a prayer for favorable weather and good crops. In the sacred space, monks and nuns wearing cassocks perform ritualistic worship, offering incense, lamps, candles, flowers and vegetarian food, creating a solemn and peaceful atmosphere.

In addition to religious rituals, the festival of Huong Pagoda also has a strong flavor of Vietnamese folk culture. On the roads leading to the pagoda, visitors will enjoy smooth folk songs such as Cheo singing, Xam singing, and folk games such as rowing and mountain climbing. The sound of singing and laughter echoes throughout the space, making the festival more lively and intimate than ever.

Rowing is one of the cultural beauties of the festival. Photo: Collected

The cultural space at the Perfume Pagoda Festival is a place for people to express their respect to the gods, and is also an opportunity for the community to preserve and conserve precious intangible cultural values. Thousands of tourists from all over the world flock here to pray, as well as to learn, experience and feel the traditional beauty of Vietnamese culture. This is also a time to develop cultural tourism, contributing to promoting the local economy through service activities, accommodation, and cuisine.

The Perfume Pagoda Festival - a national intangible cultural heritage, is a symbol of the longevity of Vietnamese culture. The spiritual and mental values conveyed through this festival have become an endless source of inspiration for the younger generation, helping them to better understand their roots and responsibilities in protecting and promoting traditional values. Therefore, organizing and maintaining the Perfume Pagoda Festival is both the task of a community and the responsibility of the entire nation in preserving and conserving cultural beauty amid the constant flow of time.

Hoang Anh