Festival honors Hung King worshiping rituals

Annually on the 10th day of the third lunar month, people nationwide eagerly rush to the ancestral land – the Hung King Temple to offer incense to pay tribute to Hung Kings and the ancestors who built and defended the nation. This year’s anniversary is not an exception. The Phu Tho Province People's Committee will organize the death anniversary of Hung Kings and the 2015 Hung King Temple Festival from April 23-28.
The festival will attract participants from five provinces, including Son La, Phu Yen, Dak Nong, Tien Giang, and Bac Lieu, according to the Hung King Death Anniversary annual project approved by the prime minister along with many outstanding cultural activities of the 2015 National Tourism Year of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
During the festival, apart from solemn ceremonies and activities organized normally like in previous years, the festival will include main activities such as a photo exhibition themed “Belief in worshiping the Hung Kings – the road to become intangible cultural heritage of the humanity” on the fifth day of the third lunar month at the historic area of Hung Vuong (Hung Kings) Museum in Viet Tri City; night music performances on the seventh day of the third lunar month and a 2015 northwest tourist fair with participation of eight northwestern provinces and Nara Province of Japan.
The festival will highlight the art of Xoan singing, including performances by the community and artisans, a “Xoan singing in ancient villages” program associated with the cultural heritage tourist site of Lai Len Temple in Kim Duc Commune, and Hung Lo communal house in Hung Lo Commune, Viet Tri City, and a Xoan singing festival for the local youth. San emphasized, “These activities prove efforts of Phu Tho Province in the conservation of cultural heritage values of the homeland, especially the heritage of Xoan singing, so that the province can propose that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recognize Xoan singing as an intangible cultural heritage of the humanity in 2015. The festival will honor Hung King worshiping rituals in Phu Tho.”
The festival is expected to attract 6-7 million visitors. Phu Tho Province has been trying to make good preparations to please domestic and foreign visitors.
In the historical relic sites, restaurants and stalls will be arranged to ensure a well-organized festival, along with the repairs of water and electrical supply systems, public sanitation, maintenance of electronic boards, repairing internal roads, installing signposts, planting trees and flowers in front of the temple.
Some works are renewed and upgraded, including Stand A in the center of the festival, and camera systems at temples and pagodas on Nghia Linh Mountain. As for the main entrance of the festival, nearly 30 experienced artisans tried to wall it with stones to ensure aesthetics to serve visitors.
The Thien Quang Pagoda has been restored, along with some key works worth hundreds of billion of dongs have been put into operation to serve visitors. This helped create a sacred, solemn and superb appearance for the Hung King Temple which is highly appreciated as a special national historical relic site.
Until now, preparations for the 2015 Hung King Temple Festival have been under prompt implementation by relevant agencies, together with considerate and polite behaviors of the local people and organizers towards visitors. The Hung King Death Anniversary and the 2015 Hung King Temple Festival are expected to attract tens of thousands of Vietnamese people and pilgrims.

By Thanh Tam