Visitors flock to the Hung Kings Festival (Photo: VNA)
Phu Tho (VNA) - After years of dedicated work, half of the 326 Hung King relics found throughout Phu 𓃲Tho province have been successfully restored.
In 2012, the Vietnam Institute of Culture and Arts Studies launched a programme across 11 northern provinces and cities to preserve and promote the worship and values of the Hung faith, honoured as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
The project not only restores and rebuilds relics intended for the worship of Hung Kings, but also collects and preserves festivals, documents, worship customs, legends and folk games.
The institute says the programme has also enhanced communities' awareness of their cultural heritage by including them in ritual activities such as le ruoc kieu (palanquin procession), le dang huong (purification ceremony) and traditional games like cock fighting, rice-cooking contests and a dragon boat competition.
According to legend, Lac Long Quan, the father of the first Hung King, and his wife, Au Co, gave birth to a sack of 100 eggs from which 100 sons were born.
Half of the boys followed their mother up to the mountains, the eldest of which named the country Van Lang and made a capital in present-day Phu Tho. The other half of the sons followed their father down along the coast, settling in various locales.-VNA
The northeast province of Phu Tho is undertaking all necessary actions to preserve and revive Xoan singing, according to Vice-Chairman of the People's Committee of the northern province of Phu Tho.
Concerted efforts were made by the northern midland province of Phu Tho to hold a successful Hung Kings Temple festival in 2015 and make it an epitomised festival nationwide, as heard at a conference to review the festival’s organisation on May 13.
Phu Tho province's cultural authority has said the introduction of xoan singing in schools will play a major role in preserving and promoting the provincial heritage.
The death anniversary of the Hung Kings and the 2016 Hung Kings Temple Festival will take place from April 12-16 with a string of new activities, said the organising board.
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Visitors flock to the Hung Kings Festival (Photo: VNA)
