Carriage procession at Hung Kings Temple Festival (Photo: VNA)Phu Tho (VNA) – Thenorthern midland province of Phu Tho is aiming to hold a hugely successful HungKings Temple festival in 2017, heard a conference to review planning for thefestival on March 15.
To achieve the target, measureswere taken to ensure security, environmental sanitation, order and safety forthe festival.
Agencies and departments wereasked to resolve difficulties of sub-departments and localities in organisingthis year’s festival, according to Ha Ke San, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee and Head of the organising board.
The province will work with Hanoiand three other provinces of Ben Tre, Binh Phuoc and Thai Binh to hold the festival,which is set to take place from April 1 – 6.
This year’s event will feature variousactivities such as photo exhibitions, water puppet shows and displays ofdocuments on Xoan Singing Heritage.
Vietnamese legend has it that Lac Long Quan, son of Kinh Duong Vuong,married Au Co, daughter of King De Lai. Au Co gave birth to a sack containing100 eggs from which 100 children were born. The couple then decided to separateto populate the land, so half the children followed their mother to the highlandsand the rest went with their father to the sea.
The first child went with mother Au Co to Phong Chau, now Phu Thoprovince. He then became King Hung and founded the first nation in the historyof Vietnam, Van Lang.
Ruling the country for 18 generations, the Hung Kings taught the peoplehow to grow wet rice. They chose Nghia Linh Mountain, the highest in theregion, to perform rituals devoted to rice and sun deities to pray for lushcrops.
To honour the Hung Kings, a complex of temples dedicated to them wasbuilt on Nghia Linh Mountain, and the tenth day of the third lunar month servesas their anniversary
The worshipping rituals of the Hung Kings are closely related to theancestral worship traditions of most Vietnamese families, an important part ofpeople's spiritual lives. It was recognised as UNESCO Intangible CulturalHeritage of Humanity in 2012.-VNA
