In their recently released international religious freedom reports, the US Department of State and the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), on one hand recognised Vietnam’s certain progress in promoting religious freedom and citing some official information from Government agencies of Vietnam but on the other still includes inobjective assessments based on unverified and inaccurate information about the reality in Vietnam.
A ceremony commemorating the death anniversary of Hung Kings, the legendary founders of Vietnam, was held on April 29 by the Permanent Mission of Vietnam to the United Nations (UN), the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and other international organisations in Geneva.
Worshipping “Ong Cong, Ong Tao” (Land Genie and Kitchen Gods) is a long-standing custom of great significance as it symbolises the farewell to all bad things of the old year to help people relaxedly enter a new year of peace and happiness.
The 23rd day of the last month of every lunar year is when the Kitchen Gods return to Heaven to report to the Jade Emperor what happened on earth during the year.
The Khmer community in Soc Trang province, along with Khmer people in the southern region, hold traditional Sene Dolta festival from the 29th of the eighth lunar month to the first of the ninth lunar month each year. This is one of the most important religious festivals for Khmer ethnic people.
Vietnam always attaches importance to its traditional friendship and comprehensive partnership with Argentina, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has said.
The festival is based on ancient beliefs in worshiping the Sun God, imbued with characteristics of wet rice culture. The events and mud-based game express the desire for a successful harvest for the mainly agricultural residents.
Many Vietnamese have in their mind a "six-eight" iambic couplet verse stating that no matter how far Vietnamese people travel, they always remember the Hung Kings’ Commemoration Day.
Xoan singing is a valuable intangible cultural heritage of the ancestor land of Phu Tho. This heritage has links to the worship of Hung Kings, a belief that originates from the Vietnamese practice of ancestor worship.
A ceremony was held in the northern mid-land province of Phu Tho on April 6 to commemorate the legendary ancestors of Vietnam, Father Lac Long Quan and Mother Au Co.
The death anniversary of Hung Kings – the legendary founders of the nation – will be connected online to more than 40 countries and territories on April 10 or the 10th day of the third lunar month.
Worshiping the souls of the living is one of the unique rituals preserved by the Bru Van Kieu ethnic people in Le Thuy district, in the central province of Quang Binh. Local people believe that worshipping the living helps them have good health and good fortune.
The Thuong Nguyen festival is one of the four main events of the Mother Goddess worshipping in a year, which is conducted before the 20th day of the first lunar month. Hau dong (or trance ritual) is an especially important ritual accompanying the religion of Mother Goddess worship, and is now an art performance with dancing and chau van singing.
Family reunion is expressed right from the New Year’s Eve offering to the ancestral worship ceremony on the first day of the Lunar New Year, a festival of the nation as well as Vietnamese families.
Apart from praying for a bumper crop and wealth, the forest worship ceremony of the Mong ethnic people in Si Ma Cai is also meant to cultivate a love for nature and the awareness of environmental protection in the community.
The 23rd day of the last month of every lunar year is when the Kitchen Gods return to Heaven to report to the Jade Emperor what happened on earth during the year.
Worshipping “Ong Cong, Ong Tao” (Land Genie and Kitchen Gods) is a long-standing custom of great significance as it symbolises the farewell to all bad things of the old year to help people relaxedly enter a new year of peace and happiness.
Society
