Fort Worth Buddhist temple invites community to celebrate lantern festival this weekend

A Fort Worth Buddhist temple is inviting its neighbors to come experience a lantern festival Friday and Saturday, with musical performances, food and shopping available.

Huong Dao Buddhist Temple will kick off the festivities at 5 p.m. Friday with a vegetarian food court, shops, music, a dragon dance and, later in the evening, a traditional Ao Dai contest, which celebrates fashion traditions in Vietnam, for attendees younger than 18, according to a news release from the temple.

On Saturday, the celebration will continue starting at 10 a.m. with many of the same elements, plus a lantern design contest, a lantern parade and the final round of the Ao Dai contest.

The dragon dance will be performed by the Huong Viet Performing Arts Group.

The event is meant to showcase a unique Asian festival celebrated by countries including Vietnam, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, China, India, Cambodia, Laos and Sri Lanka, according to the news release.

The festival culminates in lighting the lanterns for “a display of enchanting beauty illuminated by the flickering lights under the night sky,” the temple said in the news release.

Lighting a candle for the festival is seen in many of the countries that celebrate it as a symbol of “igniting hope and belief in life,” according to the temple.

The Huong Dao Buddhist Temple attracted thousands of visitors last year for its first celebration of the festival at a Buddhist sculpture.

The Huong Dao Buddhist Temple, at 4717 E. Rosedale St., has scheduled the festival to align with the full moon days of August, when measured with the lunar calendar.