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President Truong Tan Sang on Jan. 29 launched an order for ploughing the
rice field at the beginning of the lunar new year at the annual Tich
Dien (ploughing) festival in Doi Son commune, in the Red River delta
province of Ha Nam.
This year’s Tich Dien-Doi Son festival
took place from Jan. 27-29 or from the fifth to the seventh day of the
of the lunar new year, hoping for a bumper rice harvest in 2012 – the
Year of the Dragon.
Addressing the ceremony, President Truong Tan
Sang said the festival has become an important ritual of wet rice
civilisation which should be preserved and developed for future
generations.
Looking back on Vietnamese history, he noted that in
all circumstances, agriculture, farmers and rural areas laid the basic
foundation for national development.
Global integration poses
numerous challenges, and agricultural development remains the
cornerstone of maintaining social stability and food security, the
President said.
The annual festival originated from the Le
dynasty in 987 when King Le Dai Hanh decided to plough in Doi Son
commune, Duy Tien district, to wish for bumper crops. Since then, it has
become established as a fine tradition in early Spring every year./.
