The opening ceremony of the festival tocommemorate the death of the Hung Kings will take place on April 14night with a programme of singing, dancing and music on an imposingstage of Vietnamese culture.

More than 1,300 professional and amateur artists will perform at the90-minute ceremony. Most songs and music used during the ceremony willbe folk melodies.

The programme will manifest the national solidarity toward thegrassroots, history of the country’s construction and defence in thepast and at present.

The Hung King Temple Festival has been held annually since 1460 underthe reign of King Le Thanh Tong to commemorate 18 Hung Kings who werethe founders of the country and started a golden age in Vietnamesehistory.

Since, the Hung King Temple Festival has become a rendezvous ofnational unity and spirit, and is a chance for Vietnamese living in andoutside the country to express their gratitude to ancestors.

The anniversary of the Hung Kings’ death was officially recognised as anational holiday in 2000, and in 2007 the National Assembly approved aregulation permitting the country’s workers to have the day off withpay.

The Hung King Temple is located on Nghia Linh Mountain , Phong Chaudistrict, in Phu Tho province, 100km northwest of Hanoi . It is acomplex of ancient tombs, monuments and temples.

Notably, the Lower Temple , a popular tourist destination, wasaccording to legend the location where Au Co gave birth to a saccontaining 100 eggs from which 100 babies were born. The eldest son,Hung Vuong, named himself king and the throne was passed through 18generations from 2879 to 253 BC./.