Vietnamese in Russia hold Vu Lan festival

The festival, which falls on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month, or August 18 this year, is a Buddhist tradition aimed at honouring and showing gratitude to parents who are alive and those who passed away.

This year, the Vu Lan festival celebration in Russia is more meaningful as it marks the 10th anniversary of the construction of the worshipping place for Three Treasures - the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha - at the Incentra Moscow Buddhist Hall, which, together with the Hanoi-Moscow Multifunctional Centre and the One Pillar Pagoda, has become a popular spiritual and cultural destination for Buddhist followers in particular and the entire Vietnamese community in Russia.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Russia Dang Minh Khoi emphasised the importance of maintaining national culture and traditions. It helps educate and guide people, particularly young generation to goodness, and to unite the entire community.

Maintaining religious activities has affirmed the connection between the Vietnam Buddhist Association and the Vietnamese community in Russia with the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, and the homeland, proving them as an inseparable part of the Vietnamese Buddhist community in particular, and the great national unity bloc in general, he said.