Published:  00:00 Friday - March 06, 2009

A Xa Tac altar ritual held during the early Le dynasty (908-1009) to the Earth and Rice Gods is to be fully re-enacted in the former imperial city of Hue on March 24.     

Deputy Director of the Hue relics conservation centre Phan Thanh Hai explained that the 500 people who will take part in the ritual are undergoing intensive training to make the ceremony as authentic as possible.

Experts say that the ritual first began during the early Le dynasty and existed through the Ly, Tran and Nguyen dynasties. The ritual was held twice a year with the King himself, or a senior mandarin, leading the service and prayers for peace and prosperity for the nation and its people, especially good weather and a prosperous harvest.

The altar to be used for the modern ritual day was built in the Thuan Hoa precinct of Hue, by the Perfume River, by King Gia Long in 1806.

After 1945, the ritual gradually died out, and the altar has been unused ever since. The ritual was revived at the original altar for the first time in 2008 as part of the annual Hue festival.

Currently, the Hue relics conservation centre is completing a dossier on Xa Tac rituals to be submitted for recognition to the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

Hue is located in the central province of Thua Thien-Hue and was recognised as a World Cultural Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1993.