Saigon buddhists float lanterns for Vesak

Monks and nuns from Phap Hoa Pagoda in District 3 have made 3,000 lanterns for Vesak, the most important Buddhist festival that marks the Buddha's birth and enlightenment. The festival is on the 15th day of the fourth lunar month, May 10 this year.

People stand in line to receive lanterns.

The crowd walks from the pagoda to the canal, holding their lanterns up high. With every lantern put in the canal, they would make a wish.

To keep things in order, not all people are allowed to flow lanterns down the canal. The lotus flowers are passed to a group on a boat to do that.

“I wish for health, a stable job and happiness for my family,” Do Thi Hang Vi says.

Quynh Thu receives a lantern from her father.

Some people rent a boat to float the lanterns themselves.

People stand along the canal to watch it glowing in the gentle night.

The pagoda has set up a net down the canal to collect the lanterns afterward.

 

 

Saigon buddhists float lanterns for Vesak

Saigon buddhists float lanterns for Vesak