On the anniversary of Hung Vuong Ancestor, one senses the sacredness of the word "compatriots"

DNHN - Ten years after UNESCO designated the Hung Kings Worshiping Belief as a world cultural heritage, Dr Bui Hoai Son, Standing Member of the National Assembly's Committee for Culture and Education and Secretary of the Hung Vuong Worshiping Belief Profile in Phu Tho, vividly recalls the days of preparing documents for submission to Unesco.

On that day, both the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism, as well as the provincial leaders and functional agencies, were committed to perfect day and night so that when submitting to Unesco, the heritage would be recognized immediately. As a result, the application for heritage recognition that year was successful; Vietnam now has a heritage that pays tribute to its forefathers and is widely admired throughout the world. 

Although it is not a religious holiday, on March 10, Vietnamese people on all five continents honour their ancestors, returning to Hung Temple to light incense on their ancestors' altars and paying tribute to their predecessors' merits. 

That is something that cannot be found everywhere, according to Dr Bui Hoai Son, a Standing Member of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education: "After ten years, many divine genealogies, ordinations, and Han Nom documents in Phu Tho monuments and throughout the country have been translated into Vietnamese and archived in various formats.

The traditions have been maintained and promoted. We have a performing atmosphere, a context for the Hung Vuong period, as well as physical and intangible cultural heritages...

Additionally, numerous relics have deteriorated overtime after being registered by Unesco; there are numerous sources of investment support available to repair and adorn the monuments to promote their significance in contemporary life".

Every nation in the world has its roots, but Vietnamese people are different from other ethnic groups in that they worship the same ancestor - King Hung. It is this that creates a unique identity of Vietnam, recognized by Unesco. For Vietnam, the Hung King’s religion is a symbol of the nation. 

We always consider it to be the ancestor of the nation, the factor that unites the community on a territorial space to become a community with strength, survival, development and preservation of cultural identity. 

Today, on the S-shaped strip of land with 54 ethnic groups living with different cultures but still sharing the same ancestor - Hung Vuong. And this is the factor that unites the Vietnamese people in the modern era. The practise of worshipping the ancestors of Hung Kings is recognized by the world as an outstanding value in the cultural life of Vietnamese people. 

Our generation's responsibility is to promote the spirit of solidarity, transform it into an endogenous strength for overcoming obstacles, preserving the heritage, and remembering the merits of forefathers, as committed by MMrTien Khoi, Chairman of the Phu Tho Provincial Historical Association: "We are honoured to be recognized as a heritage by UNESCO, which is very proud, but we must have a sense of preserving this heritage because it is not only our property." 

On the anniversary of our forefathers' deaths, we strongly promote the Hung Kings' death anniversary, the spirit of great solidarity: it is the province of Phu Tho's responsibility to constantly repair and embellish, to promote the power of socialization to contribute to continued cultivation. to transform this location into a national cultural treasure. It entails both the preservation of the relic region and economic development".

That strength will help 54 ethnic groups to be "sons of one family", overcome all difficulties and challenges on the way to building and defending the country, and in the immediate future, overcome natural disasters, epidemics, and economic recovery.

The more we are aware of the value of the past, the more we understand the spirit of great solidarity so that not only 54 ethnic groups on the S-shaped strip of land can understand the meaning of the people but also unite for fo000,000 Vietnamese citizens. Living in many different countries around the world, they all look to their roots and feel the sacred value of the two words "compatriots".

Vy An