Guests cook and wash dishes with locals during the festival in Kien Giang

The traditional festival commemorating the 156th anniversary of the death of National Hero Nguyen Trung Truc (1868 - 2024) takes place from September 28 to 30 (26 to 28 of the 8th lunar month). This is a cultural event to express the gratitude of the people of the West to the national hero.

The festival welcomed hundreds of thousands of tourists and people from everywhere to worship, burn incense and participate in other sideline activities.

Ms. Nguyen Hai Ly (Ho Chi Minh City) said that this was the first time her family had the opportunity to visit Kien Giang and experience the unique beauty of the festival in the Southwest region. Ms. Ly felt the solidarity and love, especially when people from many localities gathered to do volunteer work and contribute their efforts to serve vegetarian dishes to festival-goers.

"The atmosphere is cheerful, bustling, and exciting! The people in the West are generous. Wherever I go, I am invited to eat and drink for free. The food is delicious and of high quality. At first, I just thought I would go for fun, but when I returned, I received a sincere heart," Ly said.

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Cuong (Vinh Long province) shared: "I also experienced sleeping in a free hammock camp, chatting and listening to people talk about patriotism, everything was so simple and familiar."

This year, the locality and related units received more than 300 tons of vegetables, rice and drinks to make vegetarian dishes (vegetarian rice, banh tet, banh bao, banh xeo, bun chay, banh canh chay...) to serve free of charge to the people.

To show their gratitude, many visitors also joined the groups in cooking, washing dishes, picking vegetables...

"Seeing others do it, I continue to do it, no problem. Coming here is like coming home, being able to contribute and be loved" - Ms. Nguyen Thi Ut (Giong Rieng district, Kien Giang province) said.