Vol. 13 2/ 2003	2^nd year edition
Editor-in-chief: Ñoã Hoaøng Nghóa phutavanthu@yahoo.com or nthihoang@aol.com

Ñaëc San Xuaân 2003

Traditional Festivals in Vietnam

In the context of an agricultural economy, traditional festivals of the Vietnamese people are usually linked to the cycle of crops. In the plains of north Vietnam, where two crops are gathered in a year, spring (early February to March) and autumn (August and September) are periods when paddy plants have already been transplanted and are waiting for appropriate weather to develop. The festivals held in spring and autumn reflect the peasants' hope for a bumper crop and prosperity. Festivals thus have a cyclical, seasonal character.

Since the Festivals are organized at the level of villages, which are the cells of Vietnamese society, they are also called village festivals. Nevertheless, since villages result from the splitting up of a big village or the merger of several smaller ones, some festivals involve many villages, and sometimes an even larger area.

In his work 'Totem and Taboo' (1913) Sigmund Freud wrote that "a fête is a permitted excess, even an ordered and solemn violation of a prohibition." Vietnam's traditional festivals offer a clear illustration of this definition. Owning to the influence of Confucianism, Vietnamese society operates under the constraints of tight rules which determine the status of each person in accordance with age, sex and kinship. Yet, during festivals, many social conventions were ignored, and this led to some kind of confusion, which upset various taboos and social barriers. But it was precisely this confusion which provided for greater communication, communion and closer links among fellow villagers.

Until recently, many villages in the Red River Delta still retained the custom of permissive promiscuity during village festivals: girls who by chance became pregnant as a result of their participation in the festivals are not liable to punishment, while those who do so in ordinary circumstances are severely punished.

Also until recently, during the last night of the festival in some villages of Ha Bac, Ha Tay, Thai Binh provinces, lamps are extinguished so as to give full freedom to girls and boys, men and women, irrespective of age and kinship.

In some festival, contests are organized in which many people scramble for a sacred artifact which is perceived to bring luck to its winner. In such contests, all villagers compete on an equal basis, hustling and edging out anyone and everyone in order to seize the coveted article.

The festivals not only remind us of time immemorial but also resurrect the chaos of origins. The atmosphere of revelry, great ecstasy and inspiration engendered by festivals helps people forget about various restraints and transcend the limits of the actual society wherein they live in order to return to the early days of humanity. On such days, mythology, with its eternal fragrance, pervades the festivals, and strengthens further the peasants' confidence in the future growth of human population, plants and animals.

The festival is composed of two parts: ceremony and festivity, and one can find festivity in the ceremonial part of the program, and vice versa. Rural festivals usually involve the performing of dances, songs and plays in the communal house, right in front of the altar of the Village Genie. The procession of palanquins also involves the game of overturning the palanquins, thus linking a sacred religious rite with merrymaking. And the games held outside the limit of the sacred communal house are also governed by mystic rules reflecting the aspirations and hopes of human beings with respect to supernatural powers. For example, when a tug-of-war is held between a male and female team, or between two male teams, the result is always decided in advance: either the female team should prevail over the male one, meaning that water will overcome drought, or the team standing on the eastern side, meaning that light will prevail over darkness.

In the Dong Ky Festival, there is a game involving the scramble for a column: young men belonging to four Giap (each village comprises several Giap, each of them having a number of young men of similar age) of each village strive to have the leader of their Giap sit at the main column. Yet, when the result is announced the winner is not necessarily the team having its leader sitting at the main column at the last minute, because locations are arranged in accordance with a pattern set in advance. Thus, there is a certain concurrence and harmony between religious rites and festivity. While entertainment is not necessarily the main purpose of festivals, the latter are indeed something lying in between genuine religious rites and plain entertainment.

For a long time, Vietnam had a centralized monarchy whose power and grip extended far down to the villages. All local customs and practices which ran counter to the orthodox ideology - that is Confucianism - were unwarranted. Possibly, because of that, some old customs were, for the purpose of concealment, performed strictly inside the village community, not allowing those outside to get any inkling of them. Such old religious rites, called Hem, were performed at night, with the aim of reminding villagers of what bound them to the past. Some villages practiced the cult of the Robber Spirit, the Beggar Spirit and the Night Soil Collector Spirit. The religious ceremony re-enacts the acts of these spirits. For instance, the robber would bore a hole through the wall of a house, or the beggar with his stick and bag in the presence of the villagers, but thereafter no one would refer to them.

From at least the 16^th century, the Royal Court also strove to strengthen its control over the villages by laying down, the official rites that must be performed during the first part of the festivals. These rites, as worked out by the Ministry of Rites and applied throughout the country, covered the presentation of incense sticks, offerings, prostrations, prayers etc, in the communal house. The same ministry also went so far as to record the genies in order to eliminate elements of folk culture which are not in keeping with Confucianist tenets. Also, in order to strengthen the prestige of the reigning dynasty, Emperors usually bestowed ranks and honors on village genies. With respect to village genies who have a special position or are important historical or legendary figures, village festivals in their honor were raised by the Royal Court to the level of State festivals. That is precisely the case of the Hung Pagoda Festival (in Phong Chau, Vinh Phuc province), the Dong Festival (Phu Dong village, Hanoi), the Festival of Trung Sisters Pagoda (Dong Nhan village, Hanoi) etc.

Village festivals are usually held in the communal house, where the Protector Spirit of each village is worshipped. But in some areas, the festivals are held in the village pagodas, such as the Huong Pagoda Festival, the Thay Pagoda Festival (Ha Tay province), and the Keo Pagoda Festival (Thai Binh province). In-depth studies show that at the root of these festivals lie ancient animist beliefs which largely preceded the influx of Buddhism. For example, the Thay Pagoda Festival is held on the seventh of the third Lunar month apparently because that was the date of the death of Buddhist Superior Tu Dao Hanh in the 11^th century, the founder of the pagoda. But historical annals show that Tu Dao Hanh passed away at a different date. It is therefore more reasonable to assume that this festival started before the construction of the pagoda, and was initially the festival of Sai Son village. The Dau Pagoda Festival, held on April 8 each year (Lunar Year) and apparently dedicated to the Four Rules, also involves a different story which asserts that the Festival was initially dedicated to the Cloud, Lightning and Thunder Spirits. Historical annals also show that Buddhism came to the Dau area (That is Luy Lau village) only in the 3^rd century AD.

From the above, one can see that as different from the religious rites which were codified and ritualised, the entertainments and games inherent in the Festival reflect deeply the Vietnamese national culture and are the most attractive part of festivals as they are an instrument in developing the diversity of rural cultural life. Through the games and entertainments performed at the festivals, one can make out the traces and vestiges of ancient beliefs which belong to the pre-agricultural period. 

But they also, to a great extent, reflect beliefs closely associated with agricultural production and the life of the Vietnamese people until the recent past. One can see certain vestiges of the cult of the Moon in the Buffalo Fighting game in Do Son, Thuy Nguyen, Hai Phong, of the cult of the Sun in the Hat Phet Hien Quan Festival in Vinh Phuc province and the 'triumphal return of Ong Dam' procession in the Dong Ky Festival in Ha Bac province. Also one can detect the traces of a hunting and gathering economy in the Lang Tho fishing game in Dao Xa, Vinh Phuc and in the game of hunting ducks in Thanh Hoa province. And most common to villages bordering on the Red River is the boat race which originated as a rite of the ancient Vietnamese to prays God for rain.

As a result of social changes, the festivals have gradually lost their initial significance. In modern times, the revolution in the countryside has brought about many changes in customs and habits of life; as a result, traditional festivals have been discarded in some places while new festivals have come into being with a wider community character. Recently, however, the restoration of traditional festivals in many places signals the revival and strengthening of the village community spirit of Vietnamese peasants.

In the weeks which follow, we give an account of a number of well-known festivals in the plains of north Vietnam (arranged in according to the Lunar months) in order to give readers a picture of Vietnam's diversified traditional culture. The following articles also deals with a number of festivals of minority ethnic groups which have coexisted with the Kinh (Viet) group for a very long time. The interactive cultural influence among these groups is not negligible.

By DAO THE HUNG

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