A swarm of visitors gravitated toward a culturally significant mountaintop temple in northern Vietnam to pay tribute to the country’s founding fathers on Sunday, three days before the start of a public holiday to celebrate the occasion.

Every year on the tenth day of the third month in the lunar calendar, people in Vietnam commemorate the death of Hung Kings, 18 successive monarchs sharing the title Hung, who are considered in legend as the first founders of ancient Vietnam. 

The day, which falls on Wednesday this year, is also a public holiday in the Southeast Asian country.

On this occasion, the Hung Kings’ Festival is being held from April 21 through 25 in Phu Tho Province to pay homage to these 18 rulers, believed to reign over Vietnam from around 2879 to 258 BC.

The Hung Temple, where the rulers are worshipped on the province’s Nghia Linh Mountain, is a sacred destination for many Vietnamese people, who may come to the place to ask for good fortune and health, as they do at pagodas during the country’s Lunar New Year festival.

The mountainside path leading to the temple was teeming with tens of thousands of pilgrims inching uphill on Sunday morning.

A large number of police officers and volunteers were brought in to marshal the visitors, a job which proved difficult due to crowdedness.

Several impatient pilgrims climbed over the slope adjacent to the path to ascend quickly, with some having their attempts thwarted by police.

The festival organizer said it was determined to preempt undesirable situations which happened in previous festivals, including traffic tie-ups, price gouging, panhandling, uncivil conduct, and contaminated food.

Local police have worked with their counterparts in neighboring provinces to monitor traffic, and are expected to perform regular patrols at the festival.

Food vendors have been required to hang a price list at their stands and banned from overcharging.

Police in green and volunteers in blue (foreground) control the influx of visitors to the Hung Temple in Phu Tho Province, northern Vietnam, on April 22, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Visitors walk up to the Hung Temple in Phu Tho Province, northern Vietnam, on April 22, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Visitors fill the path leading to the Hung Temple in Phu Tho Province, northern Vietnam, on April 22, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

A man holds his child above the crowd in Phu Tho Province, northern Vietnam, on April 22, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

A volunteer brings a child out of the crowd in Phu Tho Province, northern Vietnam, on April 22, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

A policeman uses a megaphone to ask people to move in order in Phu Tho Province, northern Vietnam, on April 22, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

A woman holding her baby walks against the stream of visitors in Phu Tho Province, northern Vietnam, on April 22, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

A policeman asks a man to return to the path in Phu Tho Province, northern Vietnam, on April 22, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Visitors choke the path leading to the Hung Temple in Phu Tho Province, northern Vietnam, on April 22, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Girls take a shortcut to the Hung Temple in Phu Tho Province, northern Vietnam, on April 22, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Policemen talk while managing the movement of visitors to the Hung Temple in Phu Tho Province, northern Vietnam, on April 22, 2018. Photo: Tuoi Tre

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