LookAtVietnam – President Nguyen Minh Triet will lead senior Party and State officials and a group of pilgrims on a State ritual to pay homage to the Hung Kings - the founders of the nation - tomorrow, the tenth day of the third lunar month.

Visitors gather for the festival in Lam Thao District in the northern Phu Tho Province last year.

This year, five cities and provinces including Phu Tho, Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Vinh Phuc and Ha Noi will jointly contribute offerings to the ancestors for the first time.

Pilgrims to the Hung Kings Temple for this year’s ritual will be amazed at the large area between the Ha (Lower), Trung (Middle) to Thuong (Upper) temples, the Au Co Mother as well as the newly built Lac Long Quan Temple.

The 250m long, 160m wide open space will be used for the incense offering and other festival activities.

The five-day 2009 Festival actually kicked off on Tuesday, with Viet Tri City residents hosting a grand incense presentation ceremony.

At the Kinh Thien Temple on Nghia Linh Mountain, where gods were worshipped during the Hung dynasty, Viet Tri municipal People’s Committee Chairman Nguyen Quoc Lien reverently reported to the ancestors the city’s socio-economic development achievements and their determination to increase targets this year.

A range of cultural, artistic and sports activities took place on the first day of the festival including volleyball, archery, chess and traditional wrestling with the participation of 246 athletes from 14 districts.

A banh chung (square cake made of glutinous rice with green bean and pork) and banh day (round glutinous rice cake) making competition was held in the centre of the Hung Temple yesterday morning. Participants from eight localities including Lao Cai, Ha Noi and Can Tho competed. Each team prepared 5kg of glutious rice, green beans, 1kg of pork and wrapping leaves to make 10 square cakes in 10 minutes. The winning team would have right to present offerings to the ancestor.

Making the two traditional cakes is among several annual cultural activities during the Hung Kings Temple Festival. Round and square cakes represent sky and earth and are presented to the Hung Kings.

The cakes were originally introduced in a story of Prince Lang Lieu, the 18th son of King Hung, who made the cakes to express gratitude to his parents.

The competition was to remind the Vietnamese people of their roots and to honour the King who taught people how to cultivate water rice and to develop agriculture, said a member of the organising board.

Many artists from across the country performed folk songs and dances.

Other scheduled festivities include bronze drum beating, xoan and gheo singing, the dragon dance, rowing and a traditional dress performance.

An estimated 3 million visitors are expected to attend this year’s festival. The first day alone attracted 500,000 people.

The anniversary of the death of the ancestors was named a day for national celebration in 2000.

Traffic jams at peak times should not pose problems to visitors because the organising board made efforts to reduce the number of vehicles and provide adequate parking. Shops committed to selling their goods at market prices, while cooking stalls registered to ensure food safety.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News