VietNamNet Bridge – The file entitled “Vietnam’s beliefs to worship Hung Vuong” was finalized in March 2011, to submit to the UNESCO for considering as an intangible cultural heritage of the mankind.

 

Three million people attend Hung Kings festival

 
The file was compiled by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the northern midland province of Phu Tho.

 

The beliefs to worship Kings Hung Vuong, originates from folk faith, deep respect and gratitude of descendants to their ancestor. The beliefs show the close connection between generations and between the living and the death.

 

In Vietnam, families worship their dead grandparents and parents. Clans worship the ancestors of lines of descents. Villages worship tutelary gods. The entire country worships the country ancestor, or Hung Kings.

 

Kings Hung Vuong are considered as the creator of the Vietnamese. From the 14-15th centuries, under the Le Dynasty, Kings Hung Vuong were worshiped at national levels. Since then, worshipping Hung Vung has become a tradition.

 
Hung Kings’ dead anniversary falls on the tenth day of the third lunar month. Nghia Linh Mountain and the Hung Kings Temple in Viet Tri city, Phu Tho province are the center of the event. On this day, millions of Vietnamese and overseas Vietnamese come to this place to burn incense to commemorate their ancestor.

 

Experts say that worshipping the country ancestor is unique in the world, because only Vietnamese believe that they have the same origin, they built an ancestor tomb and set a day of ancestor dead anniversary. The belief of ancestor worship is a return to the roots.

 

"Ancestor worship is a longstanding tradition, one of the foundational elements of national culture which has a very special position in the spiritual life of the Vietnamese people. While many religious faiths have suffered ups and downs, ancestor worship maintains its firm position in the Vietnamese culture and people's spiritual lives," said Phu Tho chairman Hoang Dan Mac.

 

Ancestor worship rituals consist of three parts: at home, where an altar is set up to the family's previous generations; at the village level, where people worship a tutelary god; and at national level, where people pay tribute to the Hung Kings, Mac said.

 

“The Hung Kings belief is unique and more special than other heritage recognized by UNESCO. The Hung Kings are considered the ancestors of the Vietnamese people, and everyone in the country believes that they have a common origin. That's not easy to find in other beliefs around the world," said Prof Ngo Duc Thinh.

 

Dr. Nguyen Chi Ben, Director of the Institute for Culture and Arts of Vietnam, said that the belief to worship Hung Kings is very special, because it wins the support of the entire society and social institutions. This activity honors the awareness of origin, the unity and the strength of the nation. Since 2000, the Hung Kings Temple Festival has been held each five years and since 2007 it has been recognized as an annual national event.

 

According to statistics, there are 1,417 places of worship dedicated to Hung Kings across the country, and numerous festivals are held every year to commemorate the nation's founders. Though the characters are different, they have the same core: respecting and showing gratitude to the ancestors who found the country.

 

Even overseas Vietnamese don’t forget the beliefs. In 1993, the first Hung Kings Temple was built in the US.

 

Apart from perfecting the file to submit to the UNESCO, the Party and State have instructed the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Phu Tho province to restore the Hung Kings Temple Festival as tradition.

 

Legend has it that the dragon Lac Long Quan met and married the fairy Au Co, who later gave birth to 100 eggs from which 100 children sprang forth.

 

The couple then parted because they came from such very different origins. Lac Long Quan went down to the sea with 50 of their children, while his wife went up to the mountains with the other half of the clan.

 

The eldest son, who followed his father, later installed himself as Vietnam's first Hung King and is considered the ancestor of all the present-day Vietnamese people.

 

Vietnamese nationals consider Phu Tho as their ancestral home where the Hung Kings first established their capital and called the nation Van Lang.

 

Phu Tho is the site of the ancestor’s graves and contains many relics related to the Hung Kings, and the local people preserve these sites and their original cultural values.

 

















Van Thanh