A pig procession festival was held in La Phu village of Hanoi's Hoai Duc district on February 22 evening, drawing plenty of attention from local people and visitors.
The annual festival takes place on the 13th day of the first lunar month.
The festival is to commemorate General Tam Lang who lived during the eighth Hung Due Vuong, or the 18th Hung King, period, and struggled to bring peace to the Vietnamese nation. Local people worship him as a deity of the village.
Whenever an enemy threatened the area, the villagers prepared a feast of steamed sticky rice and pork as offerings to the general and his troops before their battles.
The festivals normally takes place at 6pm.
Offerings include a pig, steamed sticky rice, and flowers and fruits displayed on separate palanquins. Especially, the pig is raised throughout the year and normally weighs between 120kg and 200kg.
The pig procession takes a total of two hours.
A lion dance group and a trumpet team lead the procession to the village's communal house.
The palanquin of the pig is carried by selected young men in the village.
At midnight, the village elders begin a ritual that lasts until 2 a.m. the next day. After the ceremony, the pork is divided among the families of the village for good luck.
Vietnamnet.vn
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