PhuTho (VNA) – Communes, wards, and towns in Viet Tri city and surroundingdistricts in the northern midland province of Phu Tho held a kieu (palanquin)procession on April 12 as part of the Hung Kings Temple Festival.
Thepalanquins were carried from seven different localities – namely Chu Hoa, HungLo, Kim Duc, Van Phu, and Hy Cuong in Viet Tri city, and Tien Kien and Hung Sonin Lam Thao district – to the Hung King Temple. This ritual has been maintainedfor thousands of years by the local people.
Thesame day, 14 teams, comprised of 13 from cities and districts in Phu Tho, andone from the northern province of Hai Duong, competed in a chung and giay cake-makingcontest.
Thewinning team will make the chung and giay cakes as offerings to the Hung Kings,the legendary founders of the nation, on their death anniversary on the tenthday of the third lunar month.
Legend has itthat Lac Long Quan (real name Sung Lam, son of Kinh Duong Vuong and Than LongNu) married Au Co (the fairy daughter of De Lai). Au Co then went on to givebirth to a pouch filled with one hundred eggs, which soon hatched into ahundred sons, believed to be Vietnam’s ancestors. However, soon thereafter, LacLong Quan and Au Co separated. Lac Long Quan went to the coast with 50 of thechildren, while Au Co went to the highlands with the rest.
Their eldest sonwas made king, who named the country Van Lang and set up the capital in PhongChau (nowadays Viet Tri city, Phu Tho province), beginning the 18 dynasties ofthe Hung Kings.
The kings chose Nghia Linh Mountain, the highest in theregion, to perform rituals devoted to rice and sun deities to pray for healthycrops.
To honour their great contributions, a complexof temples dedicated to them was built on Nghia Linh Mountain, and the tenthday of the third lunar month serves as the national commemorative anniversaryfor the kings.
The worshipping rituals of the Hung Kings wasrecognised as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2012. –VNA