Linking Vac Village Festival with Hung King's death anniversary ceremony

(Baonghean) - On April 5, 6, and 7, 2017 (March 9, 10, and 11, Dinh Dau year), Thai Hoa town organized the 18th Lang Vac festival.

Nghe An Newspaper interviewed comrade Le Tien Tri - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Secretary of the Town Party Committee, Chairman of the People's Council of Thai Hoa town about innovations in organization and orientation to promote the value of Lang Vac archaeological site.

PV:The 18th Lang Vac Festival in 2017 was held on the occasion of the Hung King's death anniversary (10th of the 3rd lunar month), this time is different from the tradition of holding it on the 7th, 8th, 9th of the 2nd lunar month like the 17 previous festivals. What is the significance of this change, comrade?

Lang Vac Temple, Nghia Hoa Commune, Thai Hoa. Photo: Cao Dong

Comrade Le Tien Tri:Vac Village in Nghia Hoa Commune, Thai Hoa Town is an archaeological site with great historical value, which has received special attention and high appreciation from domestic and international archaeologists. Through excavations, domestic and foreign archaeologists have discovered artifacts such as Dong Son bronze drums, many valuable bronze objects, tombs...

According to the assessment of Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Giang Hai - Director of the Institute of Archaeology, the Vac Village relic is precious and rare not only because it provides a huge treasure trove of tangible heritage, but also because it helps scientists sketch a picture of contemporary history with the highly developed culture and technology of the community of ancient Vietnamese residents during the Dong Son Culture period.

Vac Village has contributed significantly to the formation of the Vietnamese nation from the beginning, 2,000 years ago. That is extremely meaningful to the history of our country and the Vietnamese people.

With such great values, Lang Vac Archaeological Site has been honored as a National Archaeological Site. Over the past 17 years, the former Nghia Dan district and the split Thai Hoa town have organized Lang Vac Festival to express the morality of remembering the source of drinking water, turning to ancestors, arousing national pride, and honoring the tangible and intangible cultural values ​​of Lang Vac Archaeological Site.

This is also a very meaningful cultural and spiritual activity not only for the people of Thai Hoa town, Nghia Dan district but also for the ethnic communities of Western Nghe An.

The previous Lang Vac festivals were held on the 7th, 8th, and 9th of the second lunar month. However, since the 18th festival in 2017, the People's Committee of Thai Hoa town has submitted a proposal and received approval from the Provincial People's Committee to change the festival time to the 9th, 10th, and 11th of the third lunar month, on the occasion of the Hung King's death anniversary (March 10th of the lunar calendar).

The change of the festival's time ensures solemnity and economy, gradually raising the level of the festival and meeting the spiritual and cultural needs of all people. Thereby, once again affirming the value of the Vac Village Archaeological Site associated with the traces of the Hung Kings' period of nation building. From there, we promote the tradition of our ancestors, remembering Uncle Ho's teachings: "The Hung Kings had the merit of founding the country, we must work together to protect the country", determined to build our homeland to become more and more prosperous and civilized.

PV:So, how is the 18th Lang Vac Festival 2017 organized, comrade?

Comrade Le Tien Tri:As the tradition of previous times, the 18th Vac Village Festival - 2017 requires the organization to ensure solemnity, joy, health, safety, and economy; meet the cultural needs of the people and attract more and more tourists to the relic.

Therefore, since the beginning of February 2017, the town has established a Steering Committee, an Organizing Committee and proceeded to develop a master plan to submit to the Standing Committee of the Town Party Committee, the People's Council - People's Committee for approval. The festival scenario has been submitted to the Department of Culture and Sports, the Standing Committee of the Town Party Committee, the People's Council - People's Committee for approval.

It can be said that the preparations for the 18th Lang Vac Festival in 2017 have been very carefully prepared. In particular, the ceremony must be organized solemnly, ensuring cultural and spiritual elements. As for the festival, we determined to organize a variety of cultural and sports activities imbued with national cultural identity, focusing on folk games.

Highlights include cultural activities with 8 categories: camping, gong, performing arts, festival beauty, singing, campfire, swinging, sack jumping and sports activities with 7 categories: men's and women's volleyball, tug of war, shuttlecock throwing, stick pushing, men's freestyle wrestling, karate and men's chess.

With this preparation, Thai Hoa town hopes to bring a festival space that is both rich in tradition, highlighting the value of the Lang Vac archaeological site and the cultural identity of the ethnic community in the Northwest of Nghe An; and bringing beautiful impressions of a young urban area that is developing day by day along the Hieu River to visitors from near and far.

PV:With the innovations in organizing the Vac Village Festival, what orientations does Thai Hoa town have to promote the values ​​of Vac Village more strongly, becoming the driving force to build the town to develop commensurate with the vision of being the central urban area of ​​the Northwest region of Nghe An, sir?

Comrade Le Tien Tri:Promoting the value of Lang Vac archaeological relic is truly a concern of many generations of leaders and people of Thai Hoa town, especially in the vision of local socio-economic development.

2017 is the second year of implementing the Resolution of the 12th National Party Congress and the Resolution of the Party Congresses at all levels. This is a period that requires a strong shift in implementing the socio-economic development targets of Thai Hoa town, aiming to become a core urban area, an economic, service, commercial, cultural and social center of the Northwest region of Nghe An.

Therefore, promoting the value of Lang Vac is not only meaningful within the town to build a civilized urban area and sustainable new countryside, but also through that, promoting the image of the town associated with stepping up promotion and attracting investment in urban infrastructure, services, and trade more strongly and effectively.

With that vision, the change of the festival time to coincide with the Hung King's death anniversary is part of the plan to gradually link the content of Lang Vac Festival with the Hung King's death anniversary ritual. Thereby, Lang Vac becomes an address for people in the province and tourists from all over the country to make a pilgrimage to their roots, especially on the occasion of the Hung King's death anniversary.

Landscape of Lang Vac Temple. Photo: Nguyen Book

The town will develop and propose the Provincial People's Committee to approve the project to organize the Lang Vac Festival in conjunction with the Hung King's death anniversary celebration at the provincial level, striving to implement it from 2018. We have prioritized 10 billion VND in government bonuses for district-level localities that complete the task of building new rural areas; and the province has also paid attention to arranging 10 billion VND in medium-term capital for the period 2016 - 2020 to invest in infrastructure for the Lang Vac area in the coming time.

On that basis, Thai Hoa will also have solutions to connect with other localities in the Northwest region of Nghe An, travel companies, and promote promotion to make Lang Vac a spiritual and cultural destination for tourists from all over the world on their journey to the Western region of Nghe An.

Thereby, Lang Vac not only effectively promotes historical values ​​but also serves as an important driving force and foundation for building Thai Hoa into a civilized and modern development with cultural and historical depth.

PV:Thanks comrade!

Thanh Duy

(Perform)