Hue event honours Buddha’s birthday
Seven giant lotus flowers floating on the central Huong River in Hue were lit up on May 14 evening to inaugurate a cultural week celebrating Buddha’s 2560th birthday.
The lighting of the flowers marks the start of a series of activities including charity groups visiting patients at hospitals and members of the city’s Association of the Blind and laying wreaths for the war martyrs at the City’s Martyrs Cemetery leading up to Buddha’s birthday on May 14.
During the week, a number of ritual ceremonies will take place in almost 300 pagodas around the city and its surrounding areas. Some of them will be accompanied by street parades.
A parade of vehicles decorated in flowers and Buddhist themes will entertain the public on May 19 evening as it meanders through the streets. The next afternoon, hundreds of monks and nuns will join a parade to transfer a Buddha statue from the former national pagoda Dieu De to Tu Dam, current capital of local Buddhism.
Also, May 16 afternoon, an exhibition showcasing paintings by local artist Than Van Huy, venerable Mai Chau, and local teacher Minh Thu began a free exhibition in the Lieu Quan Buddhism Centre in Hue City.
A total of 48 paintings, featuring the zen beauty of pagodas, relics from ancient Hue and lotus flowers will give visitors a glimpse of Hue and its cultural heritage.
Titled ‘The Blooming Season of Lotus,’ the exhibition will also include the graceful vases of handmade paper lotuses by artist Huy, who created the flowers in 2007 by reviving a paper technique used by the local Thanh Tien traditional craft village.