Towards the Ancestor's Death Anniversary

The procession offers offerings to the Hung Kings' Commemoration Day at the Hung Kings' Temple - Mother Goddess of Nine Heavens in 2024.

Back to the roots

On April 1, Nguyen Viet Xuan Primary School, Vung Tau City organized for students to make rice cakes and exchange and talk about the meaning of the 10th day of the 3rd lunar month.

Nguyen Dieu Hien (5th grade student, Nguyen Viet Xuan Primary School) said: "We got to experience making sticky rice cakes from sticky rice, wrapped in green banana leaves. The teacher also explained to us the meaning of the round cakes called banh day symbolizing the sky and the square banh chung symbolizing the earth. This is also one of the offerings to King Hung on the Hung King's death anniversary."

Ms. Pham Thi Kim Nhung, Principal of Nguyen Viet Xuan Primary School, shared that this experiential activity both reviews history and commemorates the Hung Kings who built and defended the country, while also educating students towards their national roots and nurturing love for their homeland.

These days, at Long Son Big House (Long Son Commune, Vung Tau City), delicious sticky rice is also being prepared to cook sticky rice and cookies as offerings to King Hung at the Hung King Temple - Mother of Nine Heavens.

Ms. Le Thi Kiem, representative of Nha Lon Long Son, said that this place prepared a tray of cookies and a tray of sticky rice as offerings to King Hung. The cookies symbolize the offering to King Hung, which has the meaning of gathering, solidarity, attachment, reminding descendants of their roots, grandparents, ancestors...

Wards and communes of Vung Tau City also respectfully prepared trays of offerings such as banh chung, traditional cakes, and fruits to pay homage to the Hung Kings.

On December 6, 2012, UNESCO officially recognized the “Hung King Worship in Phu Tho”, a symbol of the spirit of great solidarity and the traditional morality of “When drinking water, remember its source” of the Vietnamese people, as a representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity.

The beauty of Hung King's death anniversary

Ba Ria-Vung Tau is expected to hold the Hung Kings' Commemoration Ceremony at the Hung Kings Temple - Mother of Nine Heavens (No. 12 Bach Dang Street, Ward 5, Vung Tau City) on April 6 and 7 (ie the 9th and 10th of the lunar calendar).

The ceremony at the Temple of the Mother Goddess of the Nine Heavens - Hung Vuong included the ritual of offering incense and flowers, and offerings such as 18 square square square cakes wrapped in fresh dong leaves and dyed pink, 18 square square square square cakes; incense, flowers, betel and areca nuts, wine and five fruits with a red silk ribbon printed with the words: "Forever grateful to the Hung Kings".

Students of Nguyen Viet Xuan Primary School, Vung Tau City experience making rice cakes at school.

The festival will take place in the Front Beach area with traditional activities such as: drum performance, Lion-Unicorn-Dragon dance; art and magic shows from 6pm-9pm; Hai Dang mountain hiking festival at 6am on April 6. Especially, the decoration and parade of flower cars offering offerings to Hung King will be held on April 7 from Quang Trung - Hoang Dieu - Le Loi - Tran Phu Street Park to Hung King - Mother of Nine Heavens Temple.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Huong, Vice Chairwoman of Vung Tau City People's Committee said: "For generations, every March 10th of the lunar calendar, the Hung Kings' Commemoration Day has become a traditional cultural festival imbued with national identity. The festival is also an opportunity for us to burn incense to commemorate the contributions of Vietnamese national heroes. Those sacred feelings of respect for our ancestors are a beautiful cultural feature, a tradition of gratitude for many generations."

Article and photos : HOANG BACH

Source: https://baobariavungtau.com.vn/van-hoa-nghe-thuat/202504/huong-ve-ngay-gio-to-1038852/