[Photos] Sea of Hanoians Flock to Pagoda for Final Tet Prayers

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February 26, 2016

While most of us are back at work and the Tet holiday buzz is gone, one Hanoian pagoda was still carrying on with the festivities late last week, drawing thousands of people to its doors.

According to Zing, the capital's Phuc Khanh Pagoda held a large prayer ceremony on Sunday, February 21, the 14^th day of the Lunar New Year.

The turnout was enormous. Thousands lined up along a kilometer-long stretch of Tay Son Street to hear Buddhist monks perform a prayer for the new year. Estimates put the crowd at over 10,000 people despite being a chilly 18 degrees Celsius. Hundreds of police officers were also on hand to manage the massive crowds.

As soon as the prayer hour was over, people flocked to the pagoda's altars with offerings, cleaning out vendors' stocks of fruit and other items to place in the religious building. University students also turned up toward the end of the ceremony with signs reminding pagoda patrons not to leave behind rubbish.