At 7 am sharp, the delegation head by State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc ascends nearly 500 steps from the foot of Nghia Linh mountain, past Nghi Mon, Ha (Lower) temple, Trung (Medium) temple to reach Thuong (Upper) temple.
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| State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and leaders of Ministries, Departments are heading to Thuong Temple (Photo: Vietnamnet) |
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| State President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Head of the Central Organizing Committee Truong Thi Mai. (Photo: Vietnamnet) |
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| (Photo: Vietnamnet) |
The parade is accompanied by a group carrying Vietnam National Flag and wreaths written “Forever grateful to the Hung Kings who built the country,” followed by 14 young women in red Ao Dai (Vietnam’s traditional costume) and 100 elite young men representing Mother Au Co’s 100 children. Thousands of Vietnamese pilgrims from across the country also join the parade.
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| (Photo: Vietnamnet) |
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| (Photo: Vietnamnet) |
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| (Photo: Vietnamnet) |
17 young women in red Ao Dai accompany the officials to Thuong Temple.
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| (Photo: Vietnamnet) |
The parade starts at 7 in the morning.
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| (Photo: Vietnamnet) |
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| (Photo: Vietnamnet) |
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| Mr. Bui Van Quang, Chairman of Phu Tho Provincial People’s Committee offers incense (Photo: Vietnamnet) |
At Kinh Thien Palace atop Nghia Linh mountain, officials from Phu Tho Provincial People’s Committee held a solemn incense offering ceremony to commemorate Hung Kings on behalf of over 96 million Vietnamese descendants.
Mr. Bui Van Quang, Chairman of Phu Tho Provincial People’s Committee affirms the great significance of the Hung King Commemoration Day, praying and inscribing the merit of Hung Kings and other ancestors who shed blood for the foundation and freedom of the S-shaped country. Quang also respectfully reports to the predecessors the great achievements Vietnam has attained during the renovation and international integration period, as reported by Vietnamnet.
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| (Photo: Vietnamnet) |
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| (Photo: Vietnamnet) |
The delegation, including State President and officials, offers incense and lays wreaths in commemoration of the Nation-founding Hung Kings and other ancestors.
Following the incense offering ceremony, millions of Vietnamese and overseas Vietnamese pilgrims offer incense, flowers and other offerings to Hung Kings.
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| Phuc and other officials offering incense at Thuong Temple (Photo: Vietnamnet) |
Hung Kings worship ritual originates from ancestor worship rituals in Vietnamese families and has become a significant cultural festival for the people.
Annually, millions of people converge on the Hung Kings’ Temple at Nghia Linh Mountain in Phu Tho to commemorate their ancestors and pray for good weather, abundant harvests, good luck and good health.
The largest ceremony, the Ancestral Anniversary festival of the Hung Kings, is celebrated about one week at the beginning of the third lunar month.
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| (Photo: Vietnamnet) |
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| (Photo: Vietnamnet) |
People from surrounding villages dress in splendid costumes and compete to provide best palanquin and most highly valued objects of worship for the key rite in which drums and gongs are conveyed to the main temple site.
Communities make offerings of rice-based delicacies such as square cakes and glutinous cakes, and there are verbal and folk art performances, bronze drum beating, Xoan singing, prayers and petitions.
The rituals are led and maintained by the Festival Organizing Board – knowledgeable individuals of good conduct, who in turn appoint ritual committees and temple guardians to tend worship sites, instruct devotees in the key ritual acts and offer incense.
The tradition embodies spiritual solidarity and provides an occasion to acknowledge national origins and sources of Vietnamese cultural and moral identity, according to VGP.
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