Ponagar Temples are crowded with visitors and pilgrims nationwide on their pilgrimage to Ponagar Festival...
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| Early in the morning, Cham People prepare offerings dedicated to Goddess Ponagar. |
Ponagar Temples are crowded with visitors and pilgrims nationwide on their pilgrimage to Ponagar Festival held on April 10-13 (20th -23rd day of the 3rd lunar month).
Ponagar Festival is the biggest religious festival in the region featuring many significant cultural and religious activities, including traditional Cham people's dance, dragon dance, release of flower garlands and colored lanterns along Cai River, worshipping rituals for national peace, folk games, etc.
Thousands of local people and pilgrims from the provinces of Thua Thien - Hue, Da Nang, Gia Lai, Dac Lac, Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan are present at the temples.
They have traveled a long distance to offer their offerings to Goddess Ponagar, who is credited as the mother of Viet and Cham people in the central region.
Dang Thi Huong, a Cham woman from Thuan Nam District, Ninh Thuan Province, said, " This is an opportunity to commemorate our ancestors and Goddess Thien Y A Na – Holy Mother of the Cham community. We would like to pray for good crops, a prosperous and happy life as well."
Increasing number of arrivals to the festival show the religious event has become a mass festival. Plentiful offerings, including food, farming produces and flowers have been prepared.
The organizing board has received 1.5 tons of rice and vegetables and hundreds of liters of drinking water from sponsors.
The organizers have also cooperated closely with medical staff, police and local authorities to ensure a successful and safe environment for tourists and pilgrims during the annual event.
Great effort has been made to achieve the best security management of the festival.
N.T
