Hung King’s Temple Fest to kick off April
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Hung King’s Temple Festival will take place at Nghia Linh Mountain in Hy Lang Commune of Phong Chau District in Phu Tho Province next month, featuring a wide range of traditional activities like palanquin procession, rice cake contest, incense-offering ceremony, among others.
This year’s event, which will run from April 7 – 12 (5th – 10th day of the third lunar month), is to be jointly held by Phu Tho and five other provinces, namely Tuyen Quang, Hoa Binh, Nam Dinh, Quang Ngai and Dong Thap.
The festival will showcase a lion dance, a Xoan singing (ancestor worship singing) festival, Ca Tru (a kind of classic opera), an exhibition of offerings to the Hung Kings and a contest on making the traditional “banh chung” (square glutinous rice cake) and “banh day” (rice cake).
Phu Tho province will also host an international seminar on “The worship of Hung Kings” as part of efforts to seek UNESCO’s recognition of the festival as an intangible cultural heritage.
The province also plans to set off low-range firework performance to celebrate the ceremony at 9:00 pm on April 11 (also the Hung King’s death anniversary).
The event is an annual occasion to pay tribute to Hung Kings, whose contribution to the foundation of the nation is revered at as well as to show love and pride for the country.
This year’s festival is expected to draw 6 million tourists.
State employees are allowed a three-day leave on this occasion, according to Lao Dong.
Legend has it that Lac Long Quan, who was a dragon, met and married fairy Au Co, who later gave birth to 100 eggs from which 100 children were born.
2010 Hung King's Temple Festival's opening ceremony
The couple then parted ways due to their different origins. The man went seawards with 50 of their children, while his wife went to the mountains with the other half of the clan.
The eldest son, who followed his father, later installed himself as Vietnam's first Hung King and today's Vietnamese people are said to be descendants of those children.
