“Dù ai đi ngược về xuôi (Wherever people go and travel)
Nhớ ngày giỗ tổ mùng mười tháng ba” (They always remember the ancestor’s death anniversary of 10 March)
The folk songs from thousands of years as a reminder for every Vietnamese people, whether in the country or abroad, whether in the upland or lowland, always remember to repay the gratitude of their ancestors, remembering the nation’s heroic history of building and establishing the country, and defending.
Hung Kings’ Anniversary (also known as “Lễ hội Đền Hùng”) is a big festival of the year to commemorate and express gratitude to the founding merits of the Hung Kings – the first talented kings of the nation.
Every year, on 10 March (lunar) , people from all over the country, from the South to the North, are eager to go to Hung King festival – one of the festivals in Vietnam. This is considered an unique culture of the descendants of Lac Hong in general and the people of Phu Tho province (where the Hung Kings located) in particular to pay respects towards the their origin, towards the ancestors. In Vietnamese’s mind, the ancestor’s death nniversary is a special pride because not all nations in the world have a common national anniversary. Many foreign tourists who come Vietnam travelling and accidentally attend the Hung Kings Anniversary festival have expressed their admiration and interest in the culture as well as the solidarity of a country.
The Hung Kings’ festival will be held in two main parts: the ceremony and the festival. The ceremony was held in a solemn and proper manner with the participation of many dignitaries in the village as well as politicians from the Central Government to attend. The offerings used in the ritual sacrifice include: Chung cake (square shape represented for the Earth), Day cake (round shape represented for the Sky), pig, cow, goat. When the music of the wards plays, it is also the time when the celebrant begins to do a prayer in front of the throne to worship the Hung Kings, first to report the achivements and then to pray for blessings. Each time the celebrant recites the prayer in the book, there will be a drum and gong signal. After the sound of drums and gongs, the group will go to the front of the front hall to knee down and then go back . The rite continues until the prayer in the synagogue is read by the celebrant one by one.
The procession of palanquins with colorful flags and umbrellas, the floats are painted with gold and red color and are carried by the village’s young men and women. Elderly dignitaries wear formal attire like feudal court officials, loose pants, coffins and hats (or turbans), with high heels. The atmosphere of the palanquin procession was extremely crowded and bustling, people jostled together to go up to the Upper Temple(Đền Thượng).
The procession and incense offering at Upper Temple will take place as follows:
Procession: Including flags, parasols, flowers, palanquins, colorful traditional costumes. Each procession will start from the foot of the mountain, then go through the temples to reach the Upper Temple.
Incense offering ceremony at Thuong Temple: Each person lights up a few incense sticks to pray to their ancestors, because every handful of soil and tree stump here is very sacred.
In addition, this festival also has many other folk games organized such as: Xoan singing contest, wrestling competition, swimming, tug of war…
According to legend, Lac Long Quan and Au Co were the ancestors of the Vietnamese people, the parents of the Hung kings. Therefore, the Hung Kings’ festival is considered a festival of joy for the whole nation, an important occasion for people to remember the profound gratitude of the Hung Kings for building the country along with the resilience against the enemy, foreign invasion and defense of the forefathers during the past time.
Besides, this is an occasion for many traditional cultural and sports activities of the Vietnamese people. In particular, the worship of Hung Kings has become an intangible cultural heritage recognized by UNESCO and on the list of national intangible cultural heritages approved by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Vietnam. record. This is a heritage of unique value and will be deeply ingrained in the hearts and feelings of compatriots across the country.
Source: Collected & Translated
