Festivals of Vietnam
Vietnam is well known all over the world for her unique festivals. Festive periods are recognized and highly a ppreciated by the Vietnamese.
These afford the people the opportunity to foster community spirit and national pride.
The best offerings are presented to the gods. The best food is also served during the festivals. This is in order for the gods to accept and reward accordingly. Festivals in Vietnam are a mixture of long—aged religious practices such as these but also music, dance and other colourful symbols of an ancient mythology.
“the blending of opposites”
A festival in Vietnam usually involves the blending of opposites. The word ’Festival’ is made up of two separate words in Vietnamese language: Le hoi; this means worship—gathering. Le is the spiritual aspect of the festivals, which consists of worshiping and offer of sacrifice. Hoi means converging. This represents the temporal aspect of the event.
Hoi is marry—making; occasion for the members of the community to get together. Therefore, the events culminate in the complimenting of opposites, of the male and female, the yin and yang forces of the world.
Traditional Vietnam
Some of the festivals celebrated in Vietnam can be traced back to hundreds of thousand of years. Artifacts of antiquity like bronze drums depict traditional festivals in carved relief. Though Spring and Autumn are the most preferred times, these festivals can be held at any time of the year.
The dates are set in accordance with the lunar calendar. It begins in the spring of lunar New Year and ends with events paying tribute to the mythical ancient pioneer rulers, the Hung Kings on the tenth day of the third lunar month.
Underlying the basis of these practices is the farming cycle and its relation with ancestral worship and fertility rites. The wet—rice farmers believe in ancestral worship, as they do across much of SE Asia.
“dig the graves of their ancestors”
They dig the graves of their ancestors in the village. This obligation to one’s village and the belief that everybody descends from the same family line establishes deep ties among the people. These farmers are the active participants in these events. Traditional festivals associated with farming assume additional dimensions such as birth or death of village heroes and commemoration of chivalrous deeds.
There are underlying elements, which are common to the spring festivals in Red River Delta. For example, water plays an important role. Water is usually fetched sanctified and used for spiritual washing. Others include snake dance, boat racing, fish competition and water puppet.
Farmers' Favourite
One event dear to the farmer’s heart is held at the Lim festival in Ha Bac. It is called the quan ho; alternating male and female singing. Unmarried women dressed in white engage in sacred dances. Behind them are men dressed like women imitating them. The men beat the drums and dance. This signifies once again the complimenting of the opposite.
The traditional people of Vietnam celebrate their festivals to the best of their ability. For instance, at the Don Son festival, the victorious buffalo is offered to the god for sacrifice. Also at the Lang pagoda, the rice cooking contest, the best pot is offer to the gods.
Each festival is founded on the local folktale of its guardian spirit hero. According the folk—tale of the hero Phu Dong, a child grew into a mighty warrior to fight the northern transgressors to a standstill.
During this celebration, young strong men termed ’generals’ re—enact the scene. In Thai Binh, an annual boat race represents the voyage of the village god, named Khonglo. He was a healer who went all the way to the capital to heal the King snake dance in the village of Le Mat, representing the killing of a dangerous snake by a mythical warrior.
Religious aspects of these festivals have Taoist, Buddhist and Confucianist colouration. It is important to bear in mind that the above—mentioned religions play important roles in the lives of all the Vietnamese people of different social strata.