VietNamNet Bridge – Traditional ethnic Tay singing known as then was officially recognised on Sunday, Feb 17, as an example of the nation’s intangible cultural heritage by representatives from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Then is performed in the northern province of Lang Son. The art form has been recognised as national intangible cultural heritage.

The announcement was made at the Long Tong festival (where people pray for favoured weather and abundant crops), which features then singing, in the northern province of Tuyen Quang.

Nguyen Viet Thanh, head of the province’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said that while the festival organised by Tay people in Tuyen Quang had been preserved and promoted for a long time, it deserved more protection as intangible national heritage.

Thanh said authorities planned to organise various activities in the near future to preserve the Long Tong festival and then singing rituals.

The ancient style of singing, which expresses the emotions and daily activities of working people, is a distinctive musical genre of Tay communities.

The art is divided into two forms, then ky yen which is sung to pray for good fortune, and then le hoi, which is performed at festivals to entertain people and ease the hardships of life.

Then singing ceremonies involve solemn rituals in honour of local spirits to thank them for abundant crops and pray for more bumper harvests and a comfortable, healthy and happy life in the New Year. The event also features diverse folk games and folk dancing and singing.

The Yen Tu Spring Festival, which starts in the northern province of Quang Ninh tonight, will also feature an announcement of official recognition of the Yen Tu historical site as a Special National Relic. The event will be broadcast live on national television and the festival’s first day is expected to attract about 10,000 tourists.

The annual Yen Tu festival includes a wide variety of religious activities, including ceremonies such as sounding the drum and striking the bell, as well as rituals to pray for a peaceful country and prosperous people.

The event contributes to preserving and promoting the values of historical sites in Viet Nam in general and in Quang Ninh Province in particular.

Yen Tu mountain is located about 50km from Ha Long Bay. It is home to a famous pilgrimage route that winds from the foot of the mountain to its highest peak, a trek of about 30km. The final destination for pilgrims is the bronze Dong Pagoda, which sits atop the mountain peak at about 1km above sea level.

The area’s beautiful natural landscape and awe-inspiring scenery, along with ancient pagodas and hermitages, are said to have been the reason why King Tran Nhan Tong passed the throne to his son, so that he could spend the rest of his life as a Buddhist monk at Yen Tu Mountain. While there, he founded the Truc Lam Zen Buddhist sect, which has led to Yen Tu being recognised as the country’s leading centre for Buddhism.

The first days of the lunar New Year were filled with festivals held across the country. Despite the wet weather, nearly 20,000 visitors attended a festival to mark the 1,973rd anniversary of the two Trung sisters’ uprising in Ha Noi’s outlying district of Me Linh on Friday.

The event, which will run until tomorrow, honours Trung Trac and Trung Nhi, national heroes who raised an army to revolt against the Han Chinese invaders. They succeeded in regaining independence for the country, which had been under foreign rule for more than two centuries.

Following a procession and rituals, folk games and music performances were held.

On the same day, in Soc Son District, the traditional Soc Son temple festival, also known as the Giong festival, was held to commemorate Saint Giong, who sacrificed his life fighting Chinese invaders.

Also on Friday, the nation’s longest festival began at Huong (Perfume) Pagoda in Ha Noi’s My Duc District. Nguyen Van Hau, deputy chairman of the district’s People’s Committee, promised that the three-month festival will impress visitors with a wide range of activities, exhibitions and spectacles revolving around the theme of Traditional Features of Vietnamese Culture. This year, hygiene and environmental issues received more attention to ensure a successful festival.

On the first day of the festival, visitors enjoyed a photography exhibition of ancient Vietnamese pagodas and watched birds released on the picturesque Yen Spring that leads to the pagoda in a ritual to pray for peace.

The Huong Pagoda is a vast complex of Buddhist temples and shrines built into the Huong Tich limestone mountains, about 60km from central Ha Noi. The management board forecasts that this year’s festival will receive 1.5 million visitors.

The annual Co Loa festival in Dong Anh District also got underway, paying tribute to King An Duong Vuong (208-179BC), who founded the Au Lac Kingdom and Co Loa citadel.

The Co Loa archaeological, architectural and historical relic site received a certificate recognising it as a special national relic last Thursday. Attending the ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan affirmed that Co Loa’s new status was to add historical and cultural value to the relic.

A celebration of the Ngoc Hoi – Dong Da victory over the Chinese Qing invaders was also held at Dong Da Cultural Park in Ha Noi on Thursday and attracted thousands of visitors. In the early spring of 1789, Nguyen Hue, who was later proclaimed Emperor Quang Trung, launched a surprise attack and defeated more than 29,000 Qing soldiers in a five-day battle during the lunar New Year.

Source: VNS