Jade Buddha Festival

 A Buddhist monk right after performing a ceremony at the Jade Buddha altar

A while ago we went to a Jade Buddha Festival in Escondido which turned out to be a big gathering of individuals of a Vietnamese nationality. Well, turns out it's a fairly regular event. Right now they moved the Jade Buddha statue to Grape Day Park in Escondido and from there it's probably going to travel around the world.

An altar in the open air

As it was it was more like a regular street fair: booths with merchandise and Vietnamese food like eggrolls (my favourites) and noodle soup. Lots of trinkets for sale including miniaturized statures of the aforementioned Buddha and other saints. But the centerpiece of a festival and what makes it different from the street fair is the religious setting with the Jade Buddha mounted high above. People would pray right there in the open.

A monk and a nun are giving a lecture on the Buddhist philosophy. Brown robe is common for Vietnamese monks.

They also gave a lecture in Vietnamese with English translation. It was about breathing and how if you master your breathing you can master the other aspects of your life. The rest I don't remember as I fell asleep but the chairs weren't too comfortable so it was more like a slumber.