Hung King festival to mark anniversary

March 25, 2011 | 17:38

(0) user say

The Hung Temple festival will take place on April 7 to commemorate the Hung Kings in the northern province of Phu Tho.

The main ceremony, to be held on April 12 (March 10 of the Lunar Year) will include incense-offering ceremonies to Au Co-Lac Long Quan, the ancestors of the Vietnamese and Hung Kings.

This will take place at the Hung Temple on Nghia Linh Mountain in Phong Chau District, 85km northwest of Ha Noi

The Hung Temple Festival is one of the most important and sacred festivals of the Vietnamese people and is deeply imbedded in the minds of every Vietnamese citizen, regardless of their what province they come from.

Diverse activities will take place, such as a palanquin procession from surrounding villages to the Hung King Temple, lion dances, beating bronze drums, and cooking banh chung (square sticky rice cake) and banh day (round sticky rice cake).

Apart from the host province of Phu Tho, the festival will attract the participation of the provinces of Tuyên Quang, Hoa Binh, Nam Đinh, Quang Ngai and Đong Thap.

The Vietnam Heritage Association will present 18 bronze drums to the historical site of Hung King Temple, said Nguyen Tien Khôi, the Director of the site and Deputy-head of the festival organization board.

Phu Tho Province will also hold a seminar on worshipping the Hung Kings, with the participation of about 40 Vietnamese and foreign scientists.

The seminar is aimed at completing a submission to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) proposing the recognition of the Hung King Festival as a world intangible cultural heritage.

VNS

What the stars mean:

★ Poor ★ ★ Promising ★★★ Good ★★★★ Very good ★★★★★ Exceptional