02:05, 22/05/2020

Maintaining good features of festivals

There are around 1,000 festivals being organized in Khanh Hoa Province each year. This not only brings pleasure and pride to the province and its people but also poses significant challenges in the festival management and organization to the province's cultural sector and local authorities.
 

There are around 1,000 festivals being organized in Khanh Hoa Province each year. This not only brings pleasure and pride to the province and its people but also poses significant challenges in the festival management and organization to the province’s cultural sector and local authorities.
 
Khanh Hoa Province has 176 province-level monuments, 16 nation-level monuments, and three national intangible cultural heritages (pagodas, temples, communal houses, etc.,) and more than 1,500 folk heritages (folklores, festivals, art performance forms, customs, religions, and traditional crafts, etc.). Every year, Khanh Hoa holds around 1,000 festivals, including traditional festivals, cultural festivals, festivals of industries, and festivals originating from other countries. Traditional festivals of worship facilities account for the largest number.
 
 
Ritual offerings of Cham people in Ponagar Temple Festival
Ritual offerings of Cham people in Ponagar Temple Festival
 
Many festivals in Khanh Hoa are organized in Nha Trang City. The city has provided instructions to localities and units to ensure the festivals are held in accordance with traditions the law. Festivals have been organized solemnly, safely, economically and have been well responded by communities. Many negative and superstitious customs have been got rid of. Festivals have been organized purely to pray for the peacefulness of the nation and people; to commemorate the merits of ancestors and heroic martyrs. These festivals meet cultural, religious and moral needs of people in Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa; therefore, they have been preserved and promoted by local people.
 
Khanh Vinh District in recent years has paid attention on managing and organizing festivals in order to ensure their solemnity, practicality and efficiency. The district has formed organization board for big festivals and management board for worship facilities which were ranked. Thanks to that, the worship and ritual acts have taken place decently and in order.
 
Khanh Hoa Provincial Department of Culture and Sports often issues timely documents directing the units and localities over the province to intensify the management of festive activities in the province and raise public’s awareness of responsibility and pride of the nation’s cultural heritages. 
 
In fact, although there are several festive activities held in Khanh Hoa Province, most of them have small scale and are held at hamlet or residential-group levels. The number of festivals at the provincial and national scales is relatively small. Khanh Hoa’s festivals also have relatively simple nature compared to the festivals of other provinces and cities in Vietnam. 
 
The province assigned its specialized agencies and local authorities clear and suitable tasks in managing festival activities. The coordination between agencies and localities has been performed closely. Some festivals such as Am Chua Festival (Dien Khanh District) and Hung Kings’ Death Anniversary are jointly organized by localities and the provincial Department of Culture and Sports. Some festivals such as Ponagar Temple Festival are organized by the department. Negative and superstitious acts such as burning votive paper offerings, begging, stealing, and placing merit boxes improperly have been strictly controlled and got rid of.
 
Giang Đinh
Translated by H.N