The sitting tug-of-war, a folk game held during the Tran Vu temple festival Hanoi, is added to UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. (Photo: VNA)

A ceremony was held Sunday to receive the UNESCO certificate during the annual traditional festival at Tran Vu temple in Hanoi. Tug-of-war rituals and games are prevalent in the rice-farming cultures of East Asia and Southeast Asia as a form for communities to pray for abundant harvests and prosperity. They mark the start of the agricultural cycle and often begin with commemorative rites to local deities.

Typically held near a communal house or shrine, two teams on either end of a rope try to tug it from the other. The practice strengthens community solidarity and identity, UNESCO said on its website.