In the flow of the New Year festival (Part 2): Filtering out the muddy and bringing out the clear

At the beginning of the year, there is no place in this S-shaped strip of land that is without festivals. And perhaps, through many ups and downs, changes, the festival will still have a lasting vitality, continuing to evoke so much love and nostalgia in the hearts of generations of people. Because it is the village's bloodline, the country's history, the subconscious, nostalgia and the future... The important thing is how we preserve and promote the value of the festival to harmonize with today's modern life without losing the identity and proud traditional cultural elements.

The Ky Phuc festival of Hoang Tien commune (Hoang Hoa) still preserves many unique traditional rituals.

As the days of March have just knocked on the door, many people of Hoang Tien commune and neighboring areas are excited to participate in the Ky Phuc festival - the largest traditional festival of the year of the commune, held at the historical, cultural and architectural relic of To Hien Thanh temple. The Ky Phuc festival of Hoang Tien commune in 2025 takes place for 3 days, from March 4 to 6 (ie from February 5 to 7 of the lunar calendar) with many spiritual rituals, clearly recreating the traditional culture of coastal residents such as: Moc Duc ceremony, palanquin procession, sacrifice... The festival takes place excitingly with cultural activities, arts, folk games, and unique mass sports such as: Banh Chung wrapping contest, blindfolded ball hitting, swinging, cultural exchange... Although life has changed a lot, the festival is still organized according to traditional rituals and ceremonies, in the spirit of preserving the ancient identity.

Mr. Le Duy Trong, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Hoang Tien Commune emphasized: "The Ky Phuc Festival of Hoang Tien Commune is a beautiful cultural and religious feature that has been passed down and continued by generations of descendants here to express deep gratitude to the ancestors who have contributed to building and protecting the homeland and the country; at the same time, it creates excitement in the early spring of the new year, strengthens solidarity among the people, and continues to foster and preserve the beauty of the hometown festival. The more we appreciate the cultural values, the more Hoang Tien Commune is aware of its role and responsibility in managing and organizing activities taking place at the relic in general as well as organizing the annual festival in particular. Along with that, we will continue to promote information and promotion work to contribute to bringing the relic into spiritual tourism exploitation in the coming time".

Although not as large-scale as the Tran Temple Seal Opening Festival (Nam Dinh), the Tran Hung Dao Temple Seal Opening Festival in Tho Khoi Village, Yen Duong Commune (Ha Trung) has many unique and meaningful features. Taking place on the 14th and 15th of January every year, the Tran Hung Dao Temple Seal Opening Festival in Yen Duong Commune is held to express deep gratitude to the merits of Hung Dao Dai Vuong Tran Quoc Tuan and his ancestors, to send wishes and aspirations for a year of favorable weather, national peace and prosperity, good crops, and all things going smoothly and developing... The seal opening ceremony is performed at the sacred moment of the night of the 14th and early morning of the 15th of January. After the seal procession, a representative of the local government will perform the seal stamping ceremony on paper (later on, a cloth seal). This is the most unique and important ritual of the Tran Hung Dao Temple Festival, attracting a large number of tourists from all over the world.

Mr. Lai The Thien, Vice Chairman of Yen Duong Commune People's Committee, said: "Every year, at Tran Hung Dao Temple, there are two festivals, the death anniversary on August 20 (lunar calendar) and the spring festival on January 14-15 with the seal opening ceremony. Together with all levels, sectors, the government and people of Yen Duong Commune have joined hands to preserve and promote the beauty of culture and spirituality, implement the festival organization plan, practice a civilized lifestyle; security and order, traffic safety, fire prevention and fighting, environmental sanitation and business activities of goods and services in the festival area, well meeting the needs of the people".

Not only the Ky Phuc Festival of Hoang Tien Commune (Hoang Hoa) or the Opening Ceremony of Tran Hung Dao Temple, Yen Duong Commune (Ha Trung), the management and organization of festivals in the province have had positive changes in recent times. Most local authorities at all levels have promptly implemented the guiding documents of the State, Thanh Hoa Province and the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism on the management and organization of festivals, starting from planning, establishing organizing committees, assigning tasks, implementing tasks, reporting to competent authorities on the script and content of the festival; doing a good job of inspection, grasping the situation to promptly correct content and activities that are not suitable for festival beliefs.

Localities with festivals that have great influence and attract a large number of visitors from all over the world are proactive in investing in upgrading infrastructure, especially parking lots, roads, and toilet areas; arranging service areas to ensure convenience, without causing traffic congestion; organizing traffic flow and routes, arranging vehicle parking lots, having plans to prevent and fight fires and explosions, ensuring security and safety for people and visitors when participating in festivals; requiring service and goods providers in the festival area to publicly post prices and sell at the correct listed prices, without solicitation and price gouging, without commercial fraud, and without selling violent toys. Food service establishments have plans to ensure food hygiene and safety issues and regulations of competent authorities; Arrange facilities and human resources to collect waste reasonably, implement legal regulations on environmental protection in tourism activities, organize festivals; repair and beautify the landscape to keep the environment clean and beautiful..., ensuring the best service for the needs of people and tourists attending festivals.

The management of revenue collection and use at festivals and spring religious activities must comply with the provisions of Circular No. 04/2023/TT-BTC dated January 19, 2023 of the Ministry of Finance; establish a revenue counting team, open books, open accounts at the State Treasury (or) commercial banks; collect and use revenue for the right purposes, publicly and transparently.

The work of preserving and restoring traditional festivals has received attention and focus. In 2023 and 2024, many festivals in Thanh Hoa province were recognized as national intangible cultural heritages: Cha Mun Festival (Yen Thang commune, Lang Chanh); Dong Co Temple Festival (Yen Tho commune, Yen Dinh); Muong Kho Festival (Dien Trung commune, Ba Thuoc); Dinh Thi Festival (Yen Cat town, Nhu Xuan); Quang Trung Temple Festival (Lach Bang and Cu Lao Bien, Hai Thanh ward and Nghi Son island commune, Nghi Son town)...

Many people participate in the Nua - Am Tien Temple Festival (Trieu Son).

Right from the beginning of the year of At Ty 2025, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has inspected and grasped the organization and management of festivals and beliefs at 12 relics in 8 districts, towns and cities. Acknowledging the general results, the management and organization of festivals and spring religious activities have been seriously implemented by localities in the province, basically in accordance with regulations, safely, healthily and economically. The ceremony is solemn, sacred and respectful; the festival is rich and attractive, preserving good customs and practices, harmoniously combining traditional and modern elements to promote and introduce the cultural values ​​of Vietnamese ethnic groups.

In addition to the achievements, the management, organization of festivals, and implementation of civilized lifestyles in festivals still have limitations. At some relics such as: Song Temple, Co Chin Temple (Bim Son town); Na Palace (Nhu Thanh); Nua - Am Tien Temple (Trieu Son); Rong Pagoda (Cam Thach commune, Cam Thuy), there are still cases of begging; card withdrawal; exchanging small change for profit; selling of Calendars without a publishing license and not yet allowed to circulate; oil money on altars has not been collected in time; food and beverage stalls are arranged mixed with other goods stalls; environmental sanitation is not clean in some places; local traffic congestion occurs; There are still some individuals secretly organizing dart games with betting points worth up to several million VND... These are offensive behaviors, ruining the beauty of the relic, affecting the beauty of the festival, and potentially causing traffic safety and security problems. After understanding the situation, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism has issued documents to rectify and guide localities to effectively manage and organize festivals, and overcome the above situations in the coming time.

“Sorting out the bad from the good” of festivals is essential and needs to be done immediately. But it is also a long-term, persistent process, requiring determination and resoluteness from all levels and sectors and the consensus and response of the whole society. Because, there, administrative “orders” only solve part of the problem, the important thing is the awareness and responsibility of each of us when participating in the festival. To have a civilized and healthy festival season, the managers, organizers and participants of the festival must be civilized in every thought and action.

Rosemary

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/trong-dong-chay-le-hoi-dau-nam-bai-2-gan-duc-khoi-trong-243034.htm