Floating lantern festival for peace lights up Vesak 2025 in Ho Chi Minh City

A floating lantern festival to pray for peace illuminated the evening sky in Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday, with 35,000 lotus-shaped lanterns glowing as part of the 20th United Nations Day of Vesak Celebrations 2025 (Vesak 2025), which officially began earlier the same day in the southern Vietnamese metropolis.

The festival took place at Lang Le Park in Binh Chanh District as one of the key activities of the three-day Vesak 2025 event, which is expected to gather more than 2,700 delegates, including approximately 1,200 international guests from 85 countries and territories.

Among the festival's attendees were Vietnamese Minister of Ethnic and Religious Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung; Most Venerable Thich Thien Nhon, Deputy Supreme Patriarch of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS), president of the VBS's Executive Council, and chair of the Vesak 2025 organizing committee; and Phra Brahmapundit, President of the International Council for the United Nations Day of Vesak.

In his opening remarks, Most Venerable Thich Bao Nghiem, deputy chairman of the VBS's Executive Council and deputy chair of the Vesak 2025 organizing committee, said, "This ceremony is an opportunity for us to turn our hearts toward the world, sending forth our best wishes to all."

"Let us pray that nations in conflict may soon find the path of dialogue and reconciliation, that misunderstandings and hatred may be resolved through compassion and humanity. May the light of the Buddha's wisdom and compassion spread everywhere, bringing peace to all beings," he shared.

Minister Dung expressed his deep appreciation to the VBS for organizing Vesak 2025, including the lantern festival, and extended his gratitude to all domestic and international delegates for their participation.

Organizers lit a total of 35,000 lanterns, including 20,000 candle-lit paper lanterns, 10,000 battery-powered lotus-shaped lanterns, and 5,000 plastic lanterns placed around the lake at Lang Le Park.

In addition, seven large lotus lanterns were installed as focal points around the water.

After leaders and delegates symbolically released a few lanterns into the lake, the public was invited to place lanterns along the lake's edge or around flower beds instead of floating them on the water.

This measure aimed to ensure safety and protect the environment.

Volunteers promptly retrieved the few lanterns that had been released into the lake, a decision that received widespread support from attendees.

Many visitors took commemorative photos beside lantern arrangements shaped like the map of Vietnam and large lotus flowers.

Vinh Tho - Hoai Phuong / Tuoi Tre News

(2025/05/07-17:13)