Nearly 1 million worshippers make pilgrimage to Hung Kings Temple during Tet holiday.
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This year’s festival, to be hosted by Phu Tho, Thai Nguyen, Quang Nam, Binh Duong, and Kien Giang provinces, will feature a wide variety of traditional rituals and festive activities.
The highlights of the festival include an incense offering at Thuong (Upper) Temple on April 25, a book fair, a chung (square) cake making contest, and an exhibition on the traditional rituals and festivals in Phu Tho province.
Visitors at the festival will have an opportunity to enjoy the beautiful melodies of Xoan (Spring) singing, which the UNESCO has recently added to its representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
The Hung Kings' Temple Festival is held annually between the 8th and the 11th days of the third lunar month in honor of the Hung Kings. The main day of festivities—which is a public holiday in Vietnam since 2007—is on the 10th day.
The purpose of this ceremony is to remember and pay tribute to the contributions of the Hung Kings, the traditional founders abd first emperors of the nation. Beginning as a local holiday, the Ceremony was recognized as a national holiday in 2007. In 2016, the total number of visitors to the festival was 7 million.
