Fill in each numbered blank with one suitable word or phrase.

SPRING FESTIVALS

The spring festival season ín Vietnam starts with the Lunar New Year (Tet) and (1)______ with the celebration honouring the mythical founding fathers, the Hung Kings, on the tenth day of the (2)_____ lunar month.

Underlying the origins of these rituals is the farming cycle and ( 3)_______ association with fertility rites and ancestor worship. Ancestor worship is a (4)_____ of wet-rice farmers who keep their ancestors' graves in their village. This strong attachment to the village of ones birth and the recognition that the (5)______  all descend from the same ancestral line creates strong bonds. The village festival is based (6)_____  the spirit of unity and family. The farmers are the festivals' creators, actors and audience.

Ancient ceremonies (7)______ to farming sometimes take on additional meanings the commemoration of heroic deeds and the village heroes’ (8)______ or death. Each village in the North of Vietnam has (9)_____ a heroic or super-human figure as a tutelary or guardian spirit. The heroes were honoured in their own (10)______  and communal houses which became the heart of the village activities.

Ancient ceremonies related to farming sometimes take on additional meanings the commemoration of heroic deeds and the village heroes’ (8)______ or death.