The 8th Vietnam Poetry Day opened at Van Mieu-Quoc Tu Giam (Temple of Literature) on February 28, the fifteen day of the first lunar month.
Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Pham Quang Nghi and poet Huu Thinh, Chairman of the Vietnam Writers’ Association, the organiser of the festival, lighted the sacred flame to kick off the festival.
The flame was taken from Phu Tho Province’s Thuong Temple, which is dedicated to the Hung Kings - the founders of Vietnam. It represents a respect for the traditional values in the creation of modern literary works.
This year’s Poetry Day is a “grand festival†held nationwide to mark the 1,000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi and expected to attract the largest number of participants so far.
On February 27, a ceremony to commemorate writers who laid down during the nation’s resistance wars against French and US aggressors was held at the Hanoi-based Quan Su Pagoda.