Sustainable spiritual support
In the historical process of building and defending the country, the Vietnamese people have formed in their minds King Hung as the founding King, the ancestor of the Vietnamese people.
Worshiping Hung Kings is also a form of ancestor worship but has been elevated to the level of the ancestors of the Vietnamese people. The worship of Hung Kings by the Vietnamese people in Phu Tho has existed for thousands of years and has become a cultural identity in the spiritual life of the local community with the philosophy "Humans have ancestors", which is a sustainable spiritual support, uniting the national community. This is a rare phenomenon, if not the only one in the world, when the entire Vietnamese people have become aware of themselves as having a common origin (compatriots), a common ancestor's grave, and the Ancestor's Death Anniversary has become a national holiday to practice the rituals of worship and commemoration of King Hung - the common ancestor of the entire nation and people.
Deep in the mind of every Vietnamese, the Hung Kings are saints, people who built the country, and gods who protect the whole community. Every time the Hung Kings' death anniversary on March 10 comes, Vietnamese people all over the world look forward to the national holiday - the Hung Kings' death anniversary. Over time, the pride and sincere gratitude for the ancestors' merits have spread more and more strongly. More and more people make pilgrimages to the sacred mountain of Nghia Linh, especially during the annual Hung Kings' death anniversary. It has become a beautiful tradition that for many years now, on the Hung Kings' death anniversary, many families in Phu Tho offer the Hung Kings a meal to show the respect of their subjects and descendants.
In fact, the Hung Kings' Commemoration Day - Hung Temple Festival has become a popular cultural activity in the lives of many people, becoming a cultural symbol, reflecting the spirit, national consciousness and community connection of the Vietnamese people. The worship of Hung Kings has been deeply ingrained in the consciousness, becoming a sustainable spiritual support, firmly consolidating the national community.
Eternal with the nation
The history of the Vietnamese people began with the Hung King era with the merits of the Hung Kings who founded the country, broke rocks, expanded, and built the Van Lang state. The worship of the Hung Kings has become a custom and belief and has been passed down from generation to generation. Throughout history, this belief has become a spiritual support and faith in the sacred and magical power of ancestors for the Vietnamese people to strengthen the great solidarity of their compatriots, join hands to defeat natural disasters, foreign invaders, and protect the country's borders.
The ancient books "Dai Viet Su Luoc" and "Dai Viet Su Ky Toan Thu" have affirmed and explained the common origin and source of the Vietnamese people - the Hung Kings. In the first year of Hong Duc in the Later Le Dynasty, the "Ngoc Pha Hung Vuong" was compiled, stating "From the Dinh Dynasty, Le Dynasty, Ly Dynasty, Tran Dynasty and then to our current dynasty, Hong Duc Later Le, people still burn incense in the temple in Trung Nghia village (Co Tich)", where people from all over the country come to worship to commemorate the merits of the ancient Holy Ancestor"...
During the Nguyen Dynasty, the capital was located in Hue. In 1823, King Minh Mang ordered the Hung Kings' memorial tablet to be worshiped at the Lich Dai De Vuong Temple, and the Hung Temple was granted a title for worship. The ceremony to organize the Hung Kings' Commemoration Day was specifically and strictly regulated, showing the respect of the dynasties and people for their ancestors. The August Revolution succeeded, the country gained independence, the Party, the State and our people paid special attention to the worship of the Hung Kings - the common ancestors of the nation and focused on investing funds to renovate and embellish the Hung Temple historical relic to make it more spacious, worthy of being a place to worship the common ancestors of the nation. Immediately after the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, on February 18, 1946, President Ho Chi Minh issued Decree No. 22C NV/CC regulating major annual holidays, including the Hung Kings' Commemoration Day being a day off. On April 2, 2007, the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam approved the amendment and supplement to Article 73 of the Labor Law allowing employees to take time off with full pay on the Hung Kings' Commemoration Day (the 10th day of the third lunar month). The Hung Kings' Commemoration Day is a major holiday - a national holiday of the whole country and the Government has specific regulations on the scale of the Hung Kings' Commemoration Day organization in even, round and odd years (Decree No. 82/2001/ND-CP of the Government regulating State Ceremonies and reception of foreign guests).
Through many ups and downs of national history, the Hung King worship has always been passed down, occupying the most sacred position in the spiritual life of the Vietnamese people, having a lasting vitality and increasingly spreading strongly among all classes of people. The endogenous factor of Vietnamese national culture, the Hung King worship has contributed significantly to fostering pride and creating a spirit of solidarity, patriotism, and love for the nation. The Vietnamese people share the same Lac Hong bloodline, and are born from the same mother, always preserved and passed down from generation to generation.
Spread to all regions
From the top of Hung Mountain - the largest center of Hung King worship in the country, over time, Hung King worship gradually spread to other localities. First, the lands around the foot of Nghia Linh Mountain such as Co Tich communal house (Hy Cuong commune), Treo communal house (Hung Son town), Ca communal house (Tien Kien)..., then spread throughout Phu Tho and Vinh Phuc, almost every district, city and town has temples worshiping Hung Kings, their wives and children, and generals from the Hung King era, then spread to provinces and cities across the country, concentrated in the provinces of the Northern Delta, the Central region and deep into the Southern land following the footsteps of the Vietnamese people.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, there are currently 1,417 relics nationwide worshiping Hung Kings and their wives, children, and generals from the Hung King era. In Phu Tho province alone, there are 345 relics associated with the Hung King worship, of which 249 are currently worshiped.
On the anniversary of Hung Kings on the 10th day of the 3rd lunar month every year, along with Phu Tho, localities with Hung Kings worshiping places such as: Hanoi, Vinh Phuc, Hai Phong, Bac Ninh, Thai Nguyen, Lang Son, Nghe An, Thua Thien Hue, Lam Dong, Binh Phuoc, Khanh Hoa, Dong Nai, Ho Chi Minh City, Ben Tre, Kien Giang... all solemnly and respectfully hold incense offering ceremonies to commemorate the Hung Kings, expressing the gratitude and merit of descendants to their ancestors for the nation-building merit of the Hung Kings.
The Hung Kings' death anniversary has truly become a festival for the people of the whole country with many programs, cultural activities, traditional arts, and folk cultural activities of ethnic regions. Not only in the country but also in some countries around the world, the Vietnamese community abroad has also built temples to worship the Hung Kings such as in California (USA), Canada, Australia... or places of worship to place altars, tablets and statues of Hung Kings so that overseas Vietnamese can organize incense offering ceremonies to remember their ancestors on National Holidays such as in Russia, Czech Republic, Laos,... "Global Vietnamese National Day" is being strongly responded to by the Vietnamese community abroad, becoming a spiritual and cultural support for every Vietnamese person to have the opportunity to remember their national origins and be proud of their origins.
The relics and places of worship of King Hung everywhere are always preserved, maintained and built by Vietnamese people, which is an affirmation of the lasting spiritual value in the spiritual life of the community, the invaluable spiritual baggage of the whole nation to protect, build and develop the country.
Remaining in the minds of every citizen, throughout thousands of years of history, spreading strongly beyond national borders, the Hung King worship has become a spiritual fulcrum, traditional cultural value, a strong connection for "the whole country to look towards Hung Temple and from Hung Temple to look out to the whole country", Lac Hong descendants join hands to preserve and develop a rich and beautiful country to fulfill the wishes of their ancestors.
Nguyen Dac Thuy
(TUV, Director of Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Phu Tho)
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