Solemn incense offering ceremony opens the 2026 Con Son – Kiep Bac Spring Festival
The 2026 incense offering ceremony kicked off the Con Son – Kiep Bac Spring Festival.
On the morning of February 26, at the Con Son – Kiep Bac World Heritage Site, the festival organizing committee solemnly held the incense offering ceremony, launching a series of festival activities lasting until the end of the first lunar month.
The ceremony is an important traditional ritual seeking permission from the Buddhas, Saints and deities to hold the Spring Festival. It also commemorates the 692nd death anniversary of Huyen Quang, the Third Patriarch of the Truc Lam Zen (1334–2026), while praying for national prosperity and peace and for the happiness of the people.
At 7 a.m., incense offering rituals were solemnly conducted at Con Son Pagoda and the temple dedicated to National Hero and World Cultural Celebrity Nguyen Trai. Members of the organizing committee, representatives of local authorities and residents of Tran Hung Dao Ward, ritual teams and visitors took part in the traditional spring opening rites.
At Kiep Bac Temple, dedicated to Tran Hung Dao, the opening incense offering ceremony and the Ky Phuc prayer ritual were held at 8 a.m. The organizing committee, local authorities, residents, ritual teams and visitors respectfully offered incense at the courtyard in front of the temple, praying for peace and prosperity, favorable weather, bumper harvests and successful festival.
This year’s festival takes place after UNESCO’s recognition for the Yen Tu – Vinh Nghiem – Con Son, Kiep Bac complex of relics and landscapes as a World Cultural Heritage Site, recognizing its outstanding global values in history, culture and the Truc Lam Zen philosophy.
The Con Son – Kiep Bac Spring Festival is an important traditional cultural event of Hai Phong, promoting the heritage values, tourism potential and trade–service development, while supporting the long-term goal of developing the Con Son – Kiep Bac heritage area into an international cultural and spiritual tourism destination.
A wide range of activities will take place during the festival such as a Culture, Tourism and Trade Promotion Week, a Heritage Book Festival, an exhibition “Moments of Heritage”, traditional wrestling and the clay firecracker festival…
The Con Son – Kiep Bac Spring Festival 2026will take place from February 26 to March 11, 2026.
Hai Phong News