Street Folk Culture Festival: “Echoes of the Roots”

On the evening of April 24 (the 8th day of the 3rd lunar month, Year of the Horse), Phu Tho province hosted the Street Folk Culture Festival themed "Echoes of the Roots." This was a signature highlight within the framework of this year’s Hung Kings' Commemoration – Hung Temple Festival and Ancestral Land Culture and Tourism Week.

Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee Tran Duy Dong and delegates attend the program. The opening act kicks off the event.

The event was attended by Mr. Tran Duy Dong – Alternate Member of the Party Central Committee and Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee; Mr. Bui Van Quang – Standing Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee; Ms. Bui Thi Minh – Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Chairwoman of the Provincial Fatherland Front Committee; Mr. Nguyen Manh Son – Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee; and Mr. Nguyen Huy Ngoc – Vice Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee and Head of the Organizing Committee for the 2026 Festival.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee and Head of the Organizing Committee Nguyen Huy Ngoc delivers the opening speech.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Nguyen Huy Ngoc emphasized: As the country undergoes a powerful transformation, the 2026 Hung Kings' Festival continues to affirm its role as a bridge between the past and present, tradition and development. The event serves as a convergence of quintessential cultural values, spreading spiritual strength, consolidating national unity, and expanding cultural exchanges in an era of integration.

The program features over 1,500 artisans and amateur performers.

The festival was organized to introduce residents and tourists to a unique cultural space where myth and reality intertwine, vividly recreating legendary origins. It offered visitors a chance to explore the cultural depth of the Ancestral Land while promoting the image of a “New Phu Tho” — a place where identity converges, heritage connects, and a vital hub for cultural and spiritual tourism.

The program attracts a vast number of residents and tourists at the main stage.

Following a temporary hiatus, this year’s festival returned on a grand scale, involving more than 1,500 artisans and amateur performers from 18 cultural delegations representing 18 communal clusters across the province.

The festival opened with a powerful drum performance, lion dances, and sacred flag dances by artists from the Lac Hong Theater and the Provincial Cultural, Information, and Cinema Center, followed by a 120-minute official festival program.

The 18 cultural delegations paraded from the intersection of Nguyen Tat Thanh and Hai Ba Trung streets to Van Lang Park. Along the route, the troupes reenacted numerous distinctive festivals and folk art forms, such as: The Hung Temple Festival, the “Hung King teaching people to plant rice” festival, Xoan Singing, the Tay Thien Festival, Dan Tri Spring Festival, the “Tro Tram” Festival, Tug-of-war rituals, and the “Down to the Field” (Xuong Dong) Festival...

The final performance, “Together We Shine,” concludes the program.

A highlight of the program was the 18 elaborately designed floats, each reflecting the unique identity of its locality, creating a multi-colored cultural tapestry. The combination of folk performances with modern music and lighting, alongside traditional costumes and props, created a vibrant artistic space, affirming the community’s role in creating, preserving, and promoting heritage in contemporary life.

The festival concluded with the musical performance “Together We Shine,” spreading a message of solidarity, gratitude to the roots, and the aspiration for growth in Phu Tho during the nation’s new era of rising.

Some highlights from the festival:

Le Hoang