Local residents re-enact King Le Dai Hanh ploughing a rice field at the festival. (Photo: VNA) According tohistorical records, the Tich dien ceremony was first organised at the foot ofDoi Mountain by King Le Dai Hanh in the spring of 987 and then became atradition practiced every spring.
The festival,restored in 2009, aims to pray for good weather and bumper crops, encourage agriculturalproduction, inspire people’s industriousness and patriotism, and educate theyoung on the traditional culture.
It featured theprocession of the memorial tablet of King Le Dai Hanh from Long Doi Son Pagodato the foot of Doi Mountain, where it merged with the procession of the localtutelary god and the founder of the Doi Tam drum making craft. After that, thejoint procession moved to the rice field where King Le Dai Hanh was said to plough during Tich dien ceremonies in the past. At the rice field, incense was offered to the God ofAgriculture and the Le Kings. A local elderly was then invited to plough the field, followed by local officials and elderly people, marking the beginning of a new year of farming.
The event alsoincluded a wide range of festive activities such as sports competitions, folkgames, buffalo decoration contests, singing performances, and displays oftypical farm produce and handicrafts.
Provincial andlocal officials along with a large number of visitors attended the festival./.
VNA
