The long-awaited Tran Temple Festival in northern Nam Dinh province willopen on the 12th day of the first lunar month, featuring a waterprocession and fish-offering ceremony.

As usual, the distributionof papers stamped with the holy royal seal will be the key event of thefestival, which runs from the 12th to the 16th of the first lunar month(February 14-19), said Nguyen Xuan Hoat, chief manager of the TranTemple-Thap Pagoda historical and cultural relic site.

The templewill officially open to the public on the 15th day. Further, allprocedures related to the stamp distribution, from purifying to theopening of seals, will have been completed the night before, Hoatreported to a conference last week in Hanoi.

As of the 15th day,stamps will be handed out and continue being distributed for six daysafter the close of the official festival, instead of on only one day, asin the past.

According to officials at the Vietnam Culture andArts Institute, the stamps were part of a local tradition dating back tothe Tran dynasty (1225-1400) that defeated the powerful Yuan invasionforces from the north, and while today's worshippers pray for personalfortunes, villagers in the past took part in the ceremony to pray forpeace.

The five-day festival will also include a range oftraditional folk art performances and games with kylin and dragondances, cheo (popular theatre), chau van (meditation) worshippingrituals, human chess games, wrestling, and martial arts demonstrations.

Local authorities said they will join efforts to ensure order andsecurity at the event, which attracts thousands of pilgrims everyyear.-VNA