Hùng King Festival features national unity

Incense offering rituals will be carried out at the temples of Lạc Long Quân and Âu Cơ- the mythical founders of Việt Nam and at Foremost Temple.

Hùng King Festival reminds Vietnamese people of their origin and history

The focus of the ceremonies this year would be the palanquin parade on March 29 with the attendance of foreign diplomats and officials of UNESCO Việt Nam and Việt Nam National UNESCO Committee.

A photo exhibition on items dating back to the period of the Hùng Kings Dynasty’s reign will be shown at the Hùng Vương Museum as part of an effort by Phú Thọ provincial government to finalize the document to seek the UNESCO recognition for the Hùng Kings worship rituals as a world intangible cultural heritage.

Performing groups from Điện Biên, Bình Dương, and Nghệ An provinces, as well as Hải Phòng and Đà Nẵng cities will add more colors to the festival's activities.

Visitors will also have a chance to experience several traditional cultural activities, including lion dances, boat racing, chưng and dày cake making contest, in addition to a men’s volleyball contest, Chinese chess, traditional wrestling, and archery.

Xoan singing, which was recently recognised by UNESCO as world intangible cultural heritage will also be highlighted.

The director of Hùng Temple historical relics, Nguyen Xuân Các told we’ve carried out measures to ensure public order, ensure hygiene and professionalize the organization of the festival. Repairs and embellishment have been completed at some required places before the launch of the festival, he added.

According to the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese, 30 outstanding overseas Vietnamese will return Việt Nam to take part in the festival.

Hùng King Temple is a historical as well as cultural attraction of Phú Thọ province. Along with this temple, local people have the Hùng King temple festival, which is annually celebrated on 10^th March of lunar year. This festival has become one of the greatest national festivals of Vietnamese people. Working labors are allowed to have a day off on 10^th March.

On festival day, people from all over the country head for Nghĩa Lĩnh Mountain, where the Temple is situated, to commemorate the Hùng Kings, who established and developed the country of Văn Lang at that time. The main festival day is 10^th, but visitors have moved to the temple during earlier days from 8^th to 10^th.

The festival has two main parts: the incense-offering ceremony and the recreational activities. The first one is held at the Upper Temple (Đền Thượng) to represent the gratitude and respect of “Dragon and Fairy descendants” to their ancestors. The incense-offering rite will be conducted by the state representatives and the elderly after hearing the sound of the old bronze drum.

The second part of the festival includes traditional and modern activities. The most remarkable activities are the Xoan singing performance in Upper temple and Ca Trù singing performance in Lower temple (Đền Hạ). Besides, there are other such interesting activities as cross-bow shooting, rice cooking, cock fighting, and dragon dancing.

Hùng King Temple festival can be considered one of the most important and meaningful one that connect Vietnamese people from all over the country together. It enhances the national unity and reminds Vietnamese people of their origin and history.

                                                                                                                                    By Thùy Dung