To make the journey "up the mountains, down to the sea" at the beginning of the year more meaningful

In early spring, Thanh Hoa people are excited to make pilgrimages "to the forest, to the sea". This journey not only brings each person to spiritual and cultural destinations, to worship and pray for a prosperous new year, but more than that, it is a cultural beauty, demonstrating the morality of "When drinking water, remember its source".

To make the journey Phu Na historical relic and scenic spot (Nhu Thanh) welcomes more than ten thousand visitors every day during the Lunar New Year holiday.

These days, the key cultural and spiritual sites in the journey "up the forest, down to the sea" in the province such as the National Historical and Cultural Relic of Nua Temple - Am Tien (Trieu Son), the Historical and Scenic Site of Phu Na (Nhu Thanh), the Historical and Scenic Site of Cua Dat (Thuong Xuan), the Historical and Scenic Site of Sam Son (Sam Son City) ... attract thousands of visitors every day to offer incense and visit the landscape. To contribute to bringing visitors a meaningful pilgrimage trip in early spring, before the Lunar New Year of Giap Thin, localities have established festival organizing committees, developed plans for organization, management, and ensured security, order, and safety at the destination. Along with that, the relic management board also arranged to publicly post rules in the areas so that visitors can know and follow them when performing religious activities and visiting the relics.

However, at peak times at some relics, there are still situations where people jostle and push each other, even using inappropriate words... affecting the solemnity of the sacred place.

On the 4th day of the Lunar New Year, we had the opportunity to meet Ms. Le Thi Thuy's family in Dong Son at the Phu Na Historical Site and Scenic Spot. Ms. Thuy said: "Every year, my family spends time going to Phu Na, then going to Doc Cuoc Temple to pray for a smooth and prosperous new year. Like everyone else, when we come to Phu Na, we often walk all the way to Co Chin Temple to ask for "holy water". This year, the road to this area was too crowded, while many people waited their turn to get water, some people behind jostled, pushed, and urged... making everyone feel uncomfortable and frustrated. Personally, I felt that the trip was less meaningful."

In fact, at all the key cultural and spiritual tourism spots in the province, loudspeakers are arranged to propagate contents such as civilized behavior, introduction of destinations, origins of festivals, relics and characters worshiped and honored; values, meanings of traditional beliefs and rituals... However, some pilgrims "going to the forest, down to the sea" at the beginning of the year are just following the "movement", their behavior is not really appropriate, and they do not even care about who the relic is worshiping, what contributions the worshiped character has made to the country. Going to the temple but with heavy calculations, deliberately stuffing coins into the Buddha's hands or the altars even though there are warning signs and regulations placed at the relics.

According to Le Trung Thanh, Deputy Director of the Center for Culture, Information, Sports and Tourism of Sam Son City, the journey "up the forest, down to the sea" at the beginning of the year connecting with relic sites in Sam Son City such as Doc Cuoc Temple, Co Tien Temple and To Hien Thanh Temple attracted a large number of people and tourists, so in just 7 days of the Lunar New Year holiday, the city welcomed about more than 65 thousand visitors, mainly visitors to the relic sites. Accordingly, along with effectively implementing the work of welcoming and serving visitors to offer incense and visit the landscape, each relic site was arranged with loudspeaker clusters to propagate the implementation of civilized lifestyle, ensuring environmental sanitation, and preventing fires and explosions in places of worship. In addition, superstitious practices such as fortune telling, palm reading, etc. are strictly prohibited in the relic area. The festival organizing committee will coordinate with the authorities to promptly resolve and rectify negative incidents occurring at the relic sites, with the hope that the journey of "up the forest, down to the sea" of each person will end in a complete and meaningful way. Thereby, contributing to building the image of cultural and spiritual destinations in Sam Son City as civilized, safe and attractive.

It can be said that in recent years, the journey "up the forest, down to the sea" at the beginning of the year for people and tourists when coming to Thanh land has become more and more meaningful, because the management and organization of festivals have been focused on by localities and relic management boards to be implemented effectively, regularly innovated, and suitable to reality. However, at times, in some localities, there are still situations of begging, soliciting visitors to draw lots, tell fortunes... in the relic area. This is a situation that needs to be promptly corrected by localities and functional forces. And above all, in order for the journey "up the forest, down to the sea" to truly become complete and meaningful, with the participation of all levels, sectors, and localities, each person and tourist needs to further raise awareness of complying with regulations and destination regulations, practicing civilized behavior when going to pagodas at the beginning of the year and proactively condemning and eliminating superstitious activities in sacred places.

Article and photos: Le Anh

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