Hue Nam Palace Festival receives National Intangible Cultural Heritage

Hue Nam Palace Festival receives the title of National Intangible Cultural Heritage

Attending were Nguyen Thanh Binh, Standing Vice Chairman of Hue City People's Committee; Hoang Khanh Hung, Standing Member of City Party Committee, Head of Propaganda and Mass Mobilization Department. Representatives of departments, agencies, a large community of Holy Mother disciples, domestic and foreign tourists.

Previously, at the end of 2024, the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism issued Decision No. 3981/QD-BVHTTDL to include the traditional festival "Hue Nam Palace Festival" in the list of National Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The Hue Nam Temple Traditional Festival (commonly known as Hon Chen Temple) is held at the main location of Hue Nam Temple, located in Hai Cat village, Long Ho ward, Hue city. This is a folk festival but blends in the unique royal cultural elements of Hue.

Through the process of formation and development for hundreds of years and increasingly attracting a large number of people and tourists from all over the world to participate, this shows the strong and everlasting vitality of the Hue Nam Temple Festival. In the early stages, the Hue Nam Temple Festival only took place within the temple area, later with the participation of Hai Cat villagers and gradually became widely popular among the people.

Nowadays, the traditional festival of Hue Nam Temple carries the characteristics of the Holy disciples worshipping Mother Goddesses in Vietnam and has truly become one of the typical cultural products of Hue. Hue Nam Temple Festival also has a strong influence on many regions in the country.

Although it has gone through many different stages, the Hue Nam Temple Festival is still held regularly twice a year in the third and seventh lunar months, with important forms such as: the ceremony to welcome the Holy Mother and the deities at the 352 Chi Lang Temple (Phu Xuan District) through the procession by road and waterway, the Cao Nieu ceremony, the Chanh Te ceremony at Hue Nam Temple and Hai Cat communal house, religious activities, and performing the Hau Dong ceremony on the altars.

The procession from 352 Chi Lang moved to Nghinh Luong Dinh.

According to Mr. Phan Thanh Hai, Director of the Department of Culture and Sports, since the country completely gained independence exactly 50 years ago, for the first time within the framework of Hue Festival 2022, the Hue Nam Temple Festival in March organized the ceremony to welcome the Holy Mother and the Council of Four Palaces by road to recreate the unique and large-scale folk scene of welcoming the Holy Mother, which was once held in the 1960s. This is also the basis for the Hue Nam Temple Festival organizers as well as the Mother Goddess worshiping community to continue to maintain this ceremony by road every two years, exactly as the previous generations had done.

The Hue Nam Temple Festival is a form of cultural and folk belief activity, aiming to satisfy spiritual and cultural needs and contribute to enriching the cultural life of the locality. Accordingly, rituals such as the ceremony to welcome the Holy Mother and the deities, the announcement ceremony, the main ceremony, the spirit mediumship as well as the offerings that people offer to the Mother are products made by themselves from farming, raising animals or fishing activities... are vivid evidence of the respect of the holy disciples towards the deities.

Forms such as traditional ceremonies, Mother Goddess processions, singing, and spirit mediumship performed in the Hue Nam Temple Festival are considered a living museum preserving history and culture over time. It is a treasure trove of legends and myths associated with the Mother Goddesses and deities in the Mother Goddess worship belief. It is also a living environment for forms of ceremonies, performances with music, singing and dancing, forms, decorations, humanistic concepts, cuisine, and traditional dress of the Vietnamese people. All of these have created the unique cultural value of the festival.

Mr. Hai said that the inclusion of the Hue Nam Palace Festival in the list of National Intangible Cultural Heritage is an honor and pride for Hue. This is a common heritage of the community, held by the community and joined hands to protect and promote sustainable values. “To promote the value of this precious heritage more effectively, the cultural sector will propose and advise the City People's Committee to issue projects and plans on protecting and promoting the value of the Hue Nam Palace Traditional Festival Heritage. This also demonstrates the commitment and determination of the government and people of Hue City in preserving, promoting and further spreading the value of the national intangible heritage of the Hue Nam Palace Festival in the context of contemporary society,” Mr. Hai affirmed.

Before the title awarding ceremony, the Hue Nam festival organizing committee held a ceremony to welcome the Holy Mother and the Four Palaces Council by road from 352 Chi Lang to Nghinh Luong Dinh with the participation of hundreds of people. After performing the ceremonies here, the group will get on a boat and move up the Huong River to Hue Nam temple.

Images at the procession and award ceremony: