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Vu Lan Festival is one of the significant occasions in the Vietnamese calendar. It's a time to express gratitude, reminisce, and show filial piety to our ancestors from this life and beyond. So, when is Vu Lan Festival 2023? Let's delve into the origins and meanings of Vu Lan Festival together with Mytour in the following article!
1. When is Vu Lan Festival 2023?
Vu Lan Festival holds great importance in Buddhism and among its followers. It's a day to express gratitude and repay the kindness of our parents. With such profound humanitarian significance, Vu Lan Festival has spread and become a day of filial piety for the Vietnamese people.
When is Vu Lan Festival? This festival takes place on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month every year. Therefore, in 2023, Vu Lan Festival will fall on Wednesday, August 30th in the Gregorian calendar.
2. Origin of Vu Lan Festival
The origin of Vu Lan Day originates from the legend of Mục Kiền Liên saving his mother from the hell of hungry ghosts. Thanh Đề (Mục Kiền Liên's mother) was a very extravagant, greedy, and cruel person who did not believe in the Triple Gem.
On a regular basis, she cooked a lot of food and indulged herself all over the land. However, Mục Kiền Liên - her son, was gentle, diligent, completely opposite to his mother.
He always picked up the grains of rice his mother dropped, washed them clean, and ate them again. Therefore, everyone around and acquainted with him loved and praised him endlessly. After Thanh Đề passed away, Mục Kiền Liên requested ordination and became a disciple of the Buddha. With the permission of the Buddha, Mục Kiền Liên used his divine eye to search for his mother everywhere in heaven and earth, finally seeing her in the great hell.
Mục Kiền Liên saw his mother with tangled hair, a body only skin and bones, hungry and thirsty, lying face down on the ground unable to lift her head. Mục Kiền Liên felt extremely sad, hugged his mother, cried bitterly, and offered her a bowl of rice to relieve her hunger.
However, Thanh Đề was still too greedy, so when she brought the rice to her mouth, it turned into red flames, inedible. Mục Kiền Liên felt helpless when he saw this scene, even more saddened when he couldn't save his own mother, so he returned to seek the help of the World-Honored One.
The Buddha said if he wanted to save his mother from the cycle of suffering, to be reborn in a blissful realm, on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month, which is the day of the assembly of all the monks, invite all the monks back and prepare to make offerings to the Triple Gem to obtain merit to save his mother. He followed the Buddha's instructions, and his mother was liberated. The Buddha also taught that whoever wants to repay their parents' kindness can perform the Vu Lan ritual in the same way. Thus, Vu Lan Day was established, becoming a day of gratitude and filial piety in Buddhism.
3. Meaning of Vu Lan Festival
The significance of Vu Lan Festival is for children to remember the kindness of their parents and ancestors. Children also release animals, do good deeds, and pray for their parents to be happy and enjoy blessings. On this day, children often wear flowers on their clothes to express respect and love for their parents. Red roses symbolize living parents, while white roses symbolize deceased parents.
This is an occasion to remember the kindness of parents and ancestors in general, reminding everyone to cherish the days spent with their parents, always remember the kindness of nurturing, and do filial piety.
Vu Lan Festival is a day imbued with humanity and the tradition of remembering our roots. As filial children, we should know how to cherish and show gratitude to our parents throughout our lives.
Above is the article about Vu Lan Festival, its date, origin, and significance. Hopefully, the information compiled by Mytour will help you understand more about this day.
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