The traditional festival to celebrate the 157th anniversary of the sacrifice of National Hero Nguyen Trung Truc took place over 3 days, from October 17 to 19 (February 26 to 28 of the lunar calendar). In addition to the traditional ceremony, the festival also has many rich activities, attracting people and tourists.
The festival has many decorations, including the shape of flowers, vegetables, and fruits that are noticed by many people for their uniqueness and quirkiness. Through the hands of the performers, familiar vegetables, fruits, and flowers have been created into meaningful images.
Mr. Nguyen Thanh Nhan, a resident of An Giang province, said: "I have been decorating flowers and shaping them from vegetables and fruits to serve Mr. Nguyen's death anniversary for more than 10 years. A group of about a few people will perform until about a week before the ceremony takes place. The people here also come to help join hands to make the festival a great success".
The team decorated the festival, arranged fresh flowers, and made phoenix statues. The pair of dragons are made from ingredients such as ornamental areca, coconut, chili, pomegranate, pineapple, etc.
"The couple of dragons are estimated to weigh about 400kg, we worked for 4 days, and had to take meticulous care to have a beautiful, complete work to offer at the death anniversary of our ancestors," Mr. Nhan shared.
People from all over gathered to join hands, each person hoped to take care of each task carefully and neatly at the death anniversary. Respectfully thanking the heroes for the people and the country, no one says that everyone voluntarily contributes to contribute, contributes, and is united with each other. The joyful atmosphere was like a family gathering for the death anniversary in the extended family, Mr. Nhan added.
" Unexpectedly, the skillful hands have created such a beautiful and meaningful dragon and phoenix shape. The efforts they have put in are not small, proving that their heart is very precious and they are offering to Mr. Nguyen, Ms. Tran Thi Thanh, a resident from Can Tho, shared.
Westerners are always familiar with calling the festival by a familiar and affectionate name, the death anniversary of Uncle Nguyen and Mr. Nguyen. No matter who is old, young, male or female, they all have a heart for worship.
The historical and cultural relic of the Tomb and Communal House of National Hero Nguyen Trung Truc in Rach Gia City (now Rach Gia Ward) attracts a large number of visitors to worship, the peak of which is the 3 main days of the Nguyen Trung Truc Festival.
In 2023, Kien Giang province (now An Giang) was honored to receive the National Intangible Cultural Heritage certificate "Nguyen Trung Truc Dinh Thuong Festival - Rach Gia city, Kien Giang province".
