Vu Lan festival 2016 in Vien Quang Pagoda. (Photo: baonghean)

Vietnamese people call the 7th full moon festival “Vu Lan bao hieu” (Parents' Day) or “Xa toi vong nhan” (Wandering Soul’s Day). The festival is the second largest annual traditional festival of Vietnam after the lunar New Year (Tet) festival, and it is celebrated by Vietnamese people participating in various religious rituals and humanitarian activities.

Popular activity is to buy and release caged birds, fish and small animals, in the hope that such good deeds will earn them credits for a better incarnation in their next life, as well as helping their relatives in hell to win earlier release from their suffering.

Actually, there is a legend behind this festival. A long time ago, one day when Muc Kien Lien, one of the Buddha's ten principle disciples, was meditating, he saw his late mother suffering the tortures of hell because of the evil deeds she had committed during her life. He saw that his mother was starving, but she had nothing to eat but fire. Muc Kien Lien summoned all his spiritual powers to bring her a bowl of rice - but the food was burnt to ash before she could bring it to her mouth.

When he arrived back in the physical world, he asked for the Buddha’s guidance to help his mother and fulfill his duty as a pious son. The Buddha advised him to collect a gathering of monks and devotees and get them to pray together on this day. The combined prayers proved to be so powerful that they achieved the release not only of Muc Kien Lien’s mother, but also for countless other souls.

A feast for countless other souls. (Photo: Tuoitre)

In this festival, many Buddhist countries developed the custom of offering food, clothing, other items to hungry spirits (by presenting a feast & burning joss paper and incense in front of the house) when the realms of Heaven, Hell and the Living are open and praying for their salvation.

Thousands of Buddhist followers gathered on August 16 at and around Phuc Khanh Pagoda in the rain to celebrate Vu Lan  Festival.

One more tradition of this day is for people who wish to express their gratefulness and appreciation towards their parents. In this day, they go to pagodas and wear a rose on their shirt/dress, red roses if their parents are alive or white roses if their parents have passed away.

National Times