The Yen Tu Festival sees Vietnam’s Zen Buddhist community converge in a spectacular pilgrimage to the Dong Pagoda in the Yen Tu mountains of Quang Ninh Province. In the 13th century, Vietnam’s King-Monk Tran Nhan Tong invested heavily in the complex and founded the first Vietnamese school of Zen Buddhism, which now contains 11 pagodas and countless shrines. Solemn processions, prayers, and rites are part of the yearly festival at Yen Tu, which lasts for three months in total, from the first day of the lunar calendar until the end of the third month.