3,000 people cooked a vegetarian feast to entertain guests attending the death anniversary of National Hero Nguyen Trung Truc.

About 3,000 volunteers worked at the traditional festival commemorating the 157th anniversary of the sacrifice of National Hero Nguyen Trung Truc, cooking vegetarian meals to serve free to locals and tourists from all over.

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The traditional festival commemorating the 157th anniversary of the death of National Hero Nguyen Trung Truc (1868-2025) will take place from October 17 to 19 (ie August 26 to 28 of the lunar calendar) in Rach Gia ward ( An Giang province). Preparations, tent setting up and serving vegetarian dishes to visitors have been carefully carried out many days in advance.

Mr. Nguyen Phuoc Hoa, a member of the Management Board of the Nguyen Trung Truc Tomb and Communal House Historical and Cultural Relic, said that as of October 14, the Organizing Board had received 133 tons of rice, 5 tons of sugar, 2.5 tons of sticky rice and hundreds of tons of vegetables, tubers and fruits.

Food sources donated by market vendors, local people and benefactors will be brought to the preliminary processing area and washed before being transferred to the processing stages to serve the festival.

“About 3,000 volunteers serving the memorial service at the communal house are all assigned specific tasks. This year, the Organizing Committee arranged 6 rice stations, 2 banh xeo stations and 2 water stations, all of which are free to the people. The dishes are prepared hot, mainly vegetarian dishes,” Mr. Hoa shared.

Meticulously fixing each leaf and string, Mr. Dang Van Dam (63 years old, living in Dong Thap province) said that the communal house prepared tens of thousands of banh tet to entertain the people.

"Fire-keeping" at rice station No. 2, Mr. Pham Minh Tuan (49 years old, living in An Giang province) continuously stirs ingredients such as pineapple, banana, lemongrass, tofu... in a large pan for more than 1 hour, producing vegetarian fish sauce.

The rice serving team runs continuously, bringing hot rice to people attending the death anniversary ceremony.

Mr. Tran Ngoc Tuyen (39 years old, living in Rach Gia ward) expressed that this is not only a time to remember the national hero Nguyen Trung Truc but also shows the generosity and friendliness of the people of the West.

According to information from the Management Board of Nguyen Trung Truc Tomb and Communal House Historical and Cultural Relic, in 2024, the festival will welcome more than 1.6 million visitors.

Hero Nguyen Trung Truc's real name was Nguyen Van Lich, born in 1838, in Tan An district, Gia Dinh province (now Tay Ninh province). He joined the army to fight against the French and achieved many feats.

In September 1868, he fell into the hands of the enemy. Despite their many methods of interrogation and persuasion, he refused to surrender. Knowing that he could not submit, the enemy beheaded him at Rach Gia. Before his death, he proudly said: "When the Westerners have uprooted all the grass in the South, then there will be no more Southerners fighting the Westerners."

Admiring and respecting the national hero Nguyen Trung Truc, people erected a memorial tablet to worship him at the Whale Temple. Every year, his death anniversary is held with a large-scale festival in An Giang and the region, attracting millions of participants.

In 2023, the festival was recognized as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Specialty fruits grow densely from the roots to the top, ripening yellow in An Giang. Cam Mountain, An Giang is famous for many types of specialty fruits such as durian, avocado, mango... and we cannot forget the strawberry. In April, the strawberry fruits that grow densely on the branches begin to ripen yellow.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/3-000-nguoi-nau-tiec-chay-dai-khach-du-le-gio-anh-hung-dan-toc-nguyen-trung-truc-2453083.html