Fireworks show scheduled for Hung Kings’ death anniversary

On the evening of April 22, one day before the commemorative anniversary of the Hung Kings fireworks will be set off in Viet Tri, Phu Tho province, along with unique cultural activities.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has said that 2010 is an even year, so the Hung Kings’ death anniversary would be bigger in scale than 2009. The event will take place from April 14 to 23. President Nguyen Minh Triet and high-ranking officials will attend the incense-offering ceremony on the morning of April 23 in Viet Tri city.
Apart from a fireworks show and musical performances, there will be calligraphic performances and releases of colored lanterns on Khuon Muoi Lake and Bach Hac River as parts of the 7th sports and tourism festival of northwestern provinces, plus an outdoor photo exhibition of Vietnam’s capital cities and the Hung Kings’ death anniversaries past and present, a swimming race in the Lo River, and banh chung and banh day competitions (Vietnamese traditional rice cakes).
This year the Hung Kings’ death anniversary will fall on a Friday, so workers will have a three-day holiday.
The Hung Kings are the legendary founders of Vietnam and Phu Tho is recognized as their ancestral land and location of Vietnam’s formation. The 2010 Hung Kings’ death anniversary aims to highlight traditional culture, patriotic sentiments, and heighten the sense of unity among Vietnam’s ethnic groups.
The Hung Kings anniversary, the tenth of the third lunar month, has become a national holiday since 2009.