Hanoi (VNA) - The annual pilgrimage festival honouring theVietnamese people’s ancestors, the Hung Kings, will be held in the northernprovince of Phu Tho between April 21 and 25.

The traditional festival is held on the death anniversary of the Hung Kings - the10th day of the third lunar month, which falls on April 25 this year.

The event has been observed for thousands of years, displaying the country’scultural characteristics and consolidating national solidarity.

The festival this year will be hosted by Phu Tho province while four otherprovinces will help organise, including the northern province of Thai Nguyen, thecentral province of Quang Nam and the southern provinces of Binh Duong and KienGiang.

Various activities will be held at the Hung Temple Complex, Viet Tri city,communes surrounding the Hung Temple Complex and temples worshipping the Hung Kingsand heroes of Hung Kings era throughout Phu Tho province.

According to plan, contributing provinces will join in the worship ceremony andcontribute money to cover the organizing expenses and to upgrade the HungTemple Relic Site. The provinces will join in various activities during thefestival like holding a chung (square cake) making contest andpreparing giay (glutinous round) cake; exhibit local delicacies at afair during the event and perform at art shows.

At a recent meeting, authorities of involved provinces agreed on the plan andwill promote the festival so that many people all around the nation would joinin the event.

Ha Ke San, Vice Chairman of the Phu Tho province People’s Committee, head ofthe organising board, asked involved sectors in the provinces to coordinate in organisingthe event.

“Phu Tho and the contributing provinces will prepare the best conditions toorganise a successful and safe festival at the lowest costs and leave the bestmarks in the memories of domestic and foreign tourists,” he said.

Vietnamese legend has it that Lac Long Quan, son of Kinh Duong Vuong, married AuCo, daughter of King De Lai. Au Co gave birth to a sack containing 100 eggsfrom which 100 children were born. 

The couple then decided to separate to populate the land, so half the childrenfollowed their mother to the highlands and the rest went with their father tothe sea.

The first child went with mother Au Co to Phong Chau, now Phu Tho province. Hethen became King Hung and founded the first nation in the history of Vietnam, VanLang.          

Ruling the country for 18 generations, the Hung Kings taught the people how togrow wet rice. They chose Nghia Linh Mountain, the highest in the region, toperform rituals devoted to rice and sun deities to pray for lush crops.

To honour the Hung Kings, a complex of temples dedicated to them was built onNghia Linh Mountain, and the tenth day of the third lunar month serves as theiranniversary.

The worshipping rituals of the Hung Kings are closely related to the ancestralworship traditions of most Vietnamese families, an important part of people’sspiritual lives.

The worshipping ritual of the Hung Kings was recognised as UNESCO IntangibleCultural Heritage of Humanity in 2012.-VNA