More than 3,000 artists and artisans took part at a street festival
highlighting the folklore of the land of the nation’s ancestors in
northern Phu Tho province on April 13.
The artists
came from 13 districts and towns in the province, the Central
Ethnic Minority Pre-University School and Phu Tho Ethnic
Minority Boarding School.
Thousands of locals
flocked to watch the performances of local Xoan singing – part of the
world intangible heritage, Du drum dancing, gong performances from the
Muong ethnic group as well as the distinctive folk songs of Cao Lan
people.
Pham Ba Khiem, Deputy Director of the
provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said that the
festival is the first in a series of activities commemorating the
nation’s legendary founders – the Hung Kings and the 2013 Hung Kings
Temple Festival.
This is an opportunity to
honour and popularise the province’s intangible cultural heritage, and
the worship of Hung Kings in particular, he added.
Phu Tho province is scheduled to hold a ceremony on April 13 to receive a
certificate from the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organisation (UNESCO) recognising the Hung Kings Veneration Ritual as
part of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
The seventh session of the UNESCO committee in Paris approved the recognition on December 6, 2012.
Vietnamese legends recount the rule of the 18 Hung Kings during the
first period of Vietnamese history. The worshipping rituals are closely
related to the worship of ancestors that is a tradition of most
Vietnamese families and an important part of the people’s spiritual
lives.-VNA