Various cultural activities will be held worldwide to celebrate the Hung Kings Memorial Day which falls on April 25 this year.

Among them are the implementation of a project titled “Vietnam Ancestral Global Day” and an ancestor worship ceremony to be held by the Association for Liaison with Overseas Vietnamese (ALOV).

Other activities will include the Project Mobilisation Unit of Vietnam Ancestral Global Day (PMU-VAGD) which will be held in coordination with overseas Vietnamese associations in the Czech Republic, Russia, Hungary, and Germany.

The cultural events will include art performances and exhibitions of products from across Vietnam. Alongside this will be seminars and workshops about Vietnamese culture. The events are highly regarded by Vietnamese living, studying and working abroad, as they provide an opportunity to pay homage to their home country.

A report from the ALOV reveals that this is the first time “Vietnam Ancestral Global Day” has been celebrated simultaneously in many European countries following a shared format. The events will be modified slightly to suit the context of each Vietnamese community.

”Contributions to organisation and funding have been received from overseas Vietnamese associations in various countries,” the report said.

The ALOV and PMU-VAGD negotiated with the Mai Linh Group Corporation, alongside various local businesses, to contribute four statues of the Hung Kings, as well as12 sets of ritual clothes, and trays of offerings to organisation committees abroad.

Vietnam Ancestral Global Day

The annual Hung Kings’ Temple Festival is usually celebrated by overseas Vietnamese communities in a similar fashion to back home. Ceremonies are often held with incense offerings and tributes to the nation’s ancestors.

That being said, as the events have in the past been held sporadically and without a centralised format, they generally attract little attention from overseas Vietnamese and international friends.

The spreading of Vietnamese culture, especially the spiritual ritual of the “Hung Kings’ worship rite” is not far-reaching. In 2012, the “Hung Kings’ worship rite” was recognised as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

“This makes it the one and only ritual in Vietnam to be recognised as world cultural heritage so far. The incorporation of the ‘Hung Kings’ worship rite’ in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity has contributed to heightening the importance of Vietnamese ancestor worship in countries and territories where overseas Vietnamese communities are living.”

“Thus, it encourages those communities to recognise cultural similarities and promote respect of cultural diversity,” the report said.

Since 2015, the Vietnam Ancestral Global Day Project has moved towards three key goals: To preserve and spread the Intangible Cultural Heritage “Hung Kings’ worship rite” abroad; to hold discussions, seminars and workshops to connect and promote intercultural exchange between Vietnamese and other cultures in the world; and to build a strategy to spread and advertise Vietnamese cultural (spiritual) values in the life of overseas Vietnamese, host countries and international friends, as well as in the virtual/media environment in a systematic, consistent, comprehensive and annual manner.

The non-profit socio-cultural project aims to bring public values to overseas Vietnamese all over the world. It is carried out at both community and international levels.

VNA/VNP