A group of banyan trees with the oldest dating almost 600 years old inThien Huong hamlet, Dong Van district in northern mountainous Ha Giangprovince was recognised as a national heritage on May 11.

The copse consists of more than ten trees, four of which are between 515 and 570 years old.

The Vietnam Association for Conservation of Nature and Environment(VACNE) awarded the banyans the title in a bid to boost relevantpreservation programmes.

According to Chairman of theDong Van People’s Committee Hoang Van Thinh, the copse holds a specialspiritual meaning to the community in addition to its ecological value.

The Tay, Mong, and Giay Ethnic groups in Thien Huonghave long considered the trees their protective gods, building a shrineunder its branches and establishing rules to guard the forest. In theNew Year, locals bring offerings and have a ceremony praying for bumpercrops, good health and happiness.

To date, the2,000-square-kilometre Dong Van stone plateau, a member of the GlobalNetwork of National Geoparks since 2010, boasts 31 national andprovincial heritages. The plateau is 80 percent limestone and containsfossils of thousands of prehistoric species that roamed the region400-600 million years ago.-VNA