Wishing you a peaceful holiday season

(Baonghean) - After the Lunar New Year is the festival and pilgrimage season for Vietnamese people. Besides the historical, cultural and religious significance of traditional festivals, in some places, festival-goers are also worried about the recurrence of jostling and trampling in solemn places.

Since the second day of Tet, the big pagodas and temples with a reputation for being sacred have been crowded with men, women and visitors from all over the country. In early spring, pilgrimage to the Truc Lam Yen Tu Zen Monastery is always the desire of Buddhists all over the country.

Coming to Yen Tu is coming to Dao, to Life, to understand more about the value of Truc Lam Zen sect that King Tran Nhan Tong spent his whole life practicing. Although now, the road to conquer Phu Van peak has a cable car, everyone still wants to test their strength at least once in their life to reach the 1,068 m high peak, hoping to come to the Zen monastery once to separate themselves from the worldly mundane.

Winning luck at Huong Pagoda. Photo: Internet

Early Spring is also an occasion for Vietnamese people to remember a glorious victory that our ancestors used their blood and bones to carve into history. It has become a tradition that on the morning of February 1 (ie January 5), along with Tay Son (Binh Dinh), Dong Da (Hanoi), the 228th Anniversary of Ngoc Hoi - Dong Da victory (1789 - 2017) was solemnly held at the temple of Emperor Quang Trung on Dung Quyet mountain, Vinh city. The festival attracted tens of thousands of people and tourists from all over the world, government leaders to offer incense and flowers to express their respect and gratitude for the glorious victory of the hero in red flag and cloth shirt.

People come to visit and offer incense at Quang Trung Temple (Vinh City) - Photo: Duc Dung

It is difficult to count all the cultural, historical, religious, folk festivals... held across the country in the first days of the year. On the first working day of the year after a week off for Tet, on February 2 (January 6), Hanoi opened the 2017 Huong Pagoda Festival, the Giong Festival; Ninh Binh opened the Bai Dinh Pagoda Festival; Bac Ninh was bustling when tens of thousands of tourists came to attend the Ba Chua Kho Temple Festival...

Going to the festival at the beginning of Spring to satisfy the need for spiritual culture as well as the desire for a good life, praying for national peace, people's safety, favorable weather, guiding people towards the values ​​of truth - goodness - beauty, especially guiding people to remember the merits of the sages, be proud of the glorious feats of national heroes, love the homeland more, feel more responsible for life is a very good thing to do, worthy of respect.

Huong Pagoda Festival. Photo: Internet

However, even if we don’t want to, we still have to mention the transformation of some recent festivals when spiritual values ​​have become a practical need. Although it is not the peak of the 2017 festival season, offensive images of some festivals have appeared in many newspapers and on social networks.

The scene of looting at the Gióng Festival has recurred despite the commitment of the Hanoi Department of Culture and Soc Son district to prevent it. The image of young people ignoring security forces, climbing over fences, rushing in to snatch each bamboo flower branch, each areca nut, each betel leaf, creating chaos in the sacred place is truly disgusting in the eyes of everyone. Then the scene of jostling and trampling at Huong Pagoda, the scene of thousands of people racing to burn votive paper at Ba Chua Kho Temple (Bac Ninh) with the wish for a year of good sales, wealth and prosperity...

Temples and pagodas are packed with people, coins are scattered everywhere, even stuffed on Buddha statues and saint statues. Then there is the scene of jostling and pushing at the Tran temple system to steal the Quang Trung Linh seal every year. I don't know if any scientists or researchers have answered exactly what "uses" the seal brings to the recipient, but just looking at the scene of jostling, pushing, fighting over the seal and many other blessings at festivals, no one can say that these are human behaviors in a civilized society!

Scene of bamboo flower robbery at Gióng Festival. Photo: Internet

The ancients used to say “Ta tai nhu choi hoi” to describe the scene of going out for a spring festival at the beginning of the new year. But “ta tai” in this saying means crowded and happy, not the scenes of jostling, pushing, and snatching like in some festivals today.

These are offensive, non-traditional behaviors that need to be eliminated. Before Tet, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism organized a workshop on civilized behavior in festivals with the participation of localities, scientists, and researchers, reaching a consensus on building a framework for rules of conduct in festivals, regulations on behavior of organizers, and behavior of local communities toward festival participants.

For festivals that attract a large number of people to participate, such as Huong Pagoda Festival, Tran Temple Festival, Yen Tu Spring Festival, Hung Temple Festival, Lim Festival, Ba Chua Kho Temple..., the Ministry has requested localities to promptly develop specific plans, with full measures to ensure security and order, traffic flow and routes to avoid congestion, jostling, pushing and trampling.

Everything has been prepared. Everything has been committed. But are there still scenes of jostling, pushing, trampling, and looting at festivals? The answer lies in the consciousness of each person. Let festivals be just traditional cultural activities, expressing humanity and the desire for a peaceful and happy life./.

Van Thieng