Traditional
festivals constitute a form of cultural activities, a spiritual product
which the people have created and developed during the course of
history. From generation to generation, the Vietnamese people preserve
the fine tradition of "remembering the source while drinking water.”
Festivals are events which represent this tradition of the community as
well as honour the holy figures named as "gods” – the real persons in
national history or legendary persons. The images of gods converge the
noble characteristics of mankind. They are national heroes who fought
against foreign invaders, reclaimed new lands, treated people, fought
against natural calamities, or those legendary characters who affect the
earthly life. Festivals are events when people pay tribute to
divinities that rendered merits to the community and the nation.
Festivals are occasions when people come back to either their natural or national roots, which form a sacred part in their mind.
Festivals
represent the strength of the commune or village, the local region or
even the whole nation. Worshipping the same god, the people unite in
solidarity to overcome difficulties, striving for a happy and wealthy
life.
Festivals
display the demand for creativity and enjoyment of spiritual and
material cultural values of all social strata. Festivals become a form
of education under which fine traditional moral values can be handed
from one generation to the next in a unique way of combining spiritual
characters with competition and entertainment games.
Festivals
are also the time people can express their sadness and worries in a
wish that gods might bestow favour on them to help them strive for a
better life.
Process of festivals
Generally speaking, every festival will include the following three steps:
Preparation:
The preparation work is divided into two phases: prior to the coming
festive season and in the immediate time before the festive day. The
preparation work for the coming festive season starts right after the
previous festival comes to an end. When it is coming to the festive day,
people need to check the worshipping objects, attires, decoration, and
cleaning of the worshipping place and statues.
The festive day:
Many activities take place, including rituals of procession, incense
offering, and rejoicing games, among others. They form the most
important and significant part of any festival. These activities also
play a decisive role in attracting tourists and deciding the timing of
the festival itself.
The ending of the festival: The organization board expresses their thanks to all festival goers and closes the worshipping place.
Time for festivals
In Vietnam
festivals often take place during the three months in spring and in
autumn when people have a lot of leisure time. In addition, the climate
in spring and autumn is especially suitable for holding festivals and
for festivals goers to enjoy.
Children's
kites are often small, simple and covered with paper, while adults'
kites may be more complex, cloth-covered, and feature one or more wind
flutes that play melodies as the kites fly.
A typical adult's
kite has four parts: the body, the steering string, the flying string
and flutes. The frame is made of the smooth outer bamboo stalk and is
well polished. Kite-makers shape bamboo straps into a crescent two to
three metres long and one metre wide. After that, they cover the frame
with pieces of cotton cloth or carefully glued paper. If one half of the
kite is heavier than the other, the steering string will help balance
it. This string also serves lo direct flight and protect the kite wings
from breaking if the wind is too strong. The flying string is also made
of bamboo and can be as long as 100m to 150m. Young bamboo straps the
size of chopsticks are tied together, then boiled in water or even in
traditional Chinese medicine and salt so that the string becomes soft
and flexible.
Kites not only attract people by their shapes and
colours but also by their flutes. Flutes of different sizes and
materials can make the sound of birds, car horns, gongs or music. The
mouth of the flute must be skillfully carved so that it can properly
receive the wind and create the desired sound.
Today,
villagers build more sophisticated kites in the shape of phoenixes,
butterflies and dragons. They replace thick bamboo strings with thinner
bamboo or plastic rope. Modern kites are very light and cost little
since the materials to make them are readily available.
People
often fly kites in the late afternoon as the sun begins to set.
Normally, two people fly one kite. One person holds the flying string
while the other takes the kite and runs into the wind until the wind
lifts the kite.
The two may keep the kite high in the sky from day to day, even from summer to autumn.
Every
year, kite-flying competitions take place in many northern and central
provinces. The rules vary from place to place. In general, the most
beautiful kite with the most interesting flute melodies wins. However,
Quang Yen Townlet (Quang Ninh Province) holds a kite-fighting
competition: regardless of design, kites that hit or break other kites
win.
"They
also draw two additional semi-circular boxes at the two ends of the
rectangle, which are called"mandarin's boxes," hence the game's name.
Each person has 25 small pebbles and a bigger stone.
Each player
places the stone in one of the mandarin's boxes and five small pebbles
in each of the other squares (see diagram above). Then the game begins.
The first player takes up the contents of one square on his or her side
of the board (but not a mandarin's box) and distributes the pebbles one
by one, starting with the next square in either direction. (Since each
square contains five pebbles at the beginning, the first move will
distribute five pebbles to the left or right).
After the last
pebble is distributed, the player takes the contents of the following
square and repeats the distribution process. But if the following square
is one of the mandarin's boxes, the turn ends and passes to the other
player.
If the last pebble falls into a square that precedes one
empty square, the player wins all the contents of the square following
the empty square and removes these pebbles from the board. If this
square is followed by another empty square, the player wins the contents
of the square after that, and so on. However, if there are two or more
empty squares in a row, the player loses his or her turn.
Once a
player has taken pebbles from the board, the turn is handed to the other
player. If all five squares on one player's side of the board are
emptied at any time, that player must place one pebble he or she has
aside back in each of the five squares so that the game can resume.
The
game continues until the two mandarins' boxes have both been taken. At
the end of the game, the player with more pebbles wins, with each of the
large stones counting as ten points. If each player retrieves an equal
number of points, then the game is a tie. O an quan remains deservedly popular among older children since it requires good counting skills and forethought in order to win.
Festivals
display the demand for creativity and enjoyment of spiritual and
material cultural values of all social strata. Festivals become a form
of education under which fine traditional moral values can be handed
from one generation to the next in a unique way of combining spiritual
characters with competition and entertainment games.
Today,
villagers build more sophisticated kites in the shape of phoenixes,
butterflies and dragons. They replace thick bamboo strings with thinner
bamboo or plastic rope. Modern kites are very light and cost little
since the materials to make them are readily available.
