PHÚ THỌ  The northern province of Phu Thọ will organise a festival commemorating the death anniversary of the Hung Vương (Hung Kings) on April 10. 

The festival will take place at the Hung Temple on Nghĩa Lĩnh Mountain in Phong Chau District, 85km northwest of Ha Noi.

The Hung Temple Festival is one of the most important and sacred festivals of the Vietnamese people and is deeply embedded in the minds of every Vietnamese citizen, regardless of what province they come from.

It is held annually from the 8th to the 11th day of the third lunar month. The traditional festival honours the Vietnamese people's ancestors – the Hung Kings. They are believed to have ruled the country for 18 generations.

This year, the festival, with theme "Hung Kings Land - Sacred Root", will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the recognition of worshipping the Hung Kings in Phu Thọ by the UN heritage agency UNESCO as part of the world's intangible cultural heritage in 2012. 

The event will include incense offering ceremonies to the nation's legendary father Lạc Long Quan and the nation's legendary mother Âu Cơ, and to the Hung Kings at the Hung Kings Temple historical heritage site on Nghĩa Lĩnh Mountain in Phong Chau.

Flower offerings will be held at the monument to President Hồ Chí Minh, a sculpture  featuring the President talking with soldiers from the Viet Nam People's Army.

Localities around the Hung Temple will organise palanquin processions with limited participants ensuring COVID-19 prevention and control measures. 

The festive activities will include a swimming competition at Văn Lang Park on the morning of April 9 and an outdoor art show in the park in the evening.

Contests making banh chưng (square sticky rice cake) and banh day (sticky rice bun) will be held to attract festival-goers. 

The worshipping of the Hung Kings are closely related to the ancestral worship traditions of most Vietnamese families, an important part of people's spiritual life. - VNS