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State President joins ploughing festival in Hà Nam

VGP - State President Trương Tấn Sang on January 29 launched an order for ploughing the rice field at the beginning of the lunar new year at the annual Tịch Điền (ploughing) festival in Đọi Sơn Commune, in the Red River delta province of Hà Nam.

January 29, 2012 5:44 PM GMT+7

State President Trương Tấn Sang joins the annual Tịch Điền (ploughing) festival in Đọi Sơn Commune, Hà Nam Province - Photo: VNExpress.net

This year’s Tịch Điền-Đọi Sơn festival took place from January 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, State President Sang said the festival has become an important ritual of wet rice civilization 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 Lê dynasty in 987 when King Lê Đại Hành decided to plough in Đọi Sơn Commune, Duy Tiên District, to wish for bumper crops. Since then, it has become established as a fine tradition in early Spring every year./.