Both the sweet taro cake and the five-colour cake hold a significant place amongst local offerings to ancestors during the Tet holiday, serving to honour forebears and to express hopes for a fortunate new year brimming with bountiful crops.

As a neighboring province of Hanoi, Bac Ninh province is a prominent destination in northern Vietnam with many ancient buildings, temples and traditional craft villages.

A traditional pig slaughtering festival got underway in Nem Thuong village of Bac Ninh city, northern Vietnam, on January 27 as part of activities to celebrate the new-year period.

But Thap Pagoda, courtesy name Ninh Phuc Tu, is one of the most beautiful of its kind in the Red River Delta region and home to four groups of national treasures that have been kept almost intact.

“The tasty and delicious Tich Nghi fish porridge helped warm up my body during a cold winter day in Bac Ninh last week,” said Tran Thu Hue from Hanoi.