Tourists participate in the 2017 Hung Kings festival (Photo: VNA) Phu Tho (VNA) – Nearly one million visitors came to pay tribute to Hung Kings and otherancestors who founded the country at the Hung Kings Temple Relic Site in thenorthern province of Phu Tho during the 2018 Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday.
Director of the ManagementBoard of the relic site Nguyen Duy Anh said the surge of visitors was attributableto favourable weather during the seven-day holiday, which fell on February 14-20.
The Management Board has worked to ensure safety for tourists and restore someworshipping places, as well as arrange personnel providing guidance forvisitors, he added.
Vice Chairman ofthe provincial People’s Committee Ha Ke San said that the annual festivalhonouring the Hung Kings will be held in the province between April 21 and 25(the 6th and 10th day of the third lunar month).
Thefestival this year will be hosted by Phu Tho with the coordination of fourother provinces, including the northern province of Thai Nguyen, the centralprovince of Quang Nam and the southern provinces of Binh Duong and Kien Giang.
An incenseoffering ceremony will be held at the Den Thuong (Upper Temple) on the deathanniversary of the Hung Kings (April 25). Various activities will take placeduring the festival like a chung (square cake) making contest and preparinggiay (glutinous round) cake; local delicacies exhibited at a fair and artshows.
The event willalso feature performances of Xoan singing, which has recently been recognisedas UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
The Hung Kings founded the firstnation in the history of Vietnam, called Van Lang, in Phong Chau (now Phu Thoprovince). Ruling the country for 18 generations, the Hung Kings taughtthe people how to grow wet rice. They chose Nghia Linh Mountain, the highest inthe region, to perform rituals devoted to rice and sun deities to pray for lushcrops.
To honourthe Hung Kings, a complex of temples dedicated to them was built on Nghia LinhMountain, and the tenth day of the third lunar month serves as theiranniversary.
Theworshipping rituals of the Hung Kings are closely related to the ancestralworship traditions of most Vietnamese families, an important part of people’sspiritual lives.
Theworshipping ritual of the Hung Kings was recognised as UNESCO IntangibleCultural Heritage of Humanity in 2012.-VNA
