Culture - Sports

Grand poetry festival opens with flame procession

The 8th annual Vietnamese Poetry Day kicked off on Feb. 26 with a special procession of the sacred flame from the Hung Kings’ Temple in Phu Tho province to Van Mieu-Quoc Tu Giam in Hanoi.
The 8th annual Vietnamese Poetry Day kicked off on February 26 with a specialprocession of the sacred flame from the Hung Kings’ Temple in Phu Tho provinceto Van Mieu-Quoc Tu Giam (Temple of Literature ) in Hanoi.

As thefirst cultural activity of the chain of events celebrating the 1,000thanniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi, the flame procession aims to honour traditionalcultural values in a modern poetry festival as well as encourage writers tocreate literary works.

At 12:00 on Feb. 26 (the 13th day of the firstlunar month), the traditional flame was taken from the Thuong Temple, which isdedicated to the Hung Kings - the founders of Vietnam--to the Vu The Lang HighSchool in Viet Tri city of Phu Tho province.

The flame will be broughtto Van Mieu-Quoc Tu Giam, the main venue of the Poetry Festival, on February 28.

In honour of the event, Van Mieu will have its entrance decorated as a“forest of poems” with each tree carrying a poem representing a city or aprovince. A display will also be reserved for an exhibition of poetry written onporcelain products made by artisans in the famed Bat Trang pottery village.

In the lead up, on February 26 and 27, the Vietnam Writers’ Association,which initiated National Poetry Day, will honour translated poems at the RussianCultural Centre, and commemorate poets of the past./.
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