In 2013, the scale and frequency of the festival will be reduced.
Pham Van Thuy, Director of the Department of Grassroots Culture (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism), acknowledged that the 2012 festival season still had many shortcomings in organization and management, and that phenomena eroding the positive values of traditional festivals, such as gambling and superstition, still occurred.
This information was presented at the three-region online conference summarizing the management and organization of festivals in 2012 and outlining the direction and tasks for 2013, organized by the Ministry and held on January 18th.
According to statistics, in 2012 there were 7,966 festivals nationwide, of which folk festivals accounted for 88.36%; religious festivals accounted for 6.82%; historical and revolutionary festivals accounted for 4.16%; festivals imported from abroad accounted for 0.12%, and the rest were other festivals. The locality with the most festivals is Hanoi city with 1,095 festivals, while Lai Chau province has the fewest with only 17 festivals. |
In particular, according to Mr. Thuy, there are phenomena that cause public outrage, such as male and female singers performing Quan Ho folk songs while holding out their hats to beg for money at the Lim Festival, and offering and burning excessive amounts of votive offerings that cause waste and environmental pollution at the Ba Chua Kho Festival...
In particular, Mr. Thuy pointed out that the financial management and revenue from festivals and activities at historical sites in some localities are still lax, creating opportunities for profit for some individuals, and failing to effectively exploit and reinvest the funds donated by the people back into the historical sites…
To address this situation, during the 2013 festival season, the Ministry's leadership resolutely directed the reduction of the scale and frequency of festivals to practice austerity in accordance with the economic conditions of the country and each locality; rationally arrange donation boxes, limit the burning of votive paper, and prohibit the burning of votive offerings; strengthen supervision, inspection, and promptly handle negative phenomena to ensure that festivals develop healthily and in the right direction…
Also at the conference, Deputy Minister Huynh Vinh Ai stated that Minister Hoang Tuan Anh and five other Deputy Ministers of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism would divide into five "attack" teams to inspect and supervise the organization and implementation of the 2013 festival season.
Previously, during the 2012 festival season, according to Deputy Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Xuan Phut, more than 48 million people participated in the festivals; the amount collected from donations, offerings, and ceremonial fees was estimated at 297.801 billion VND; and administrative fines for violations in festival activities amounted to more than 21 billion VND, concentrated in the provinces of Lang Son, Vinh Phuc, Hai Duong, and Nam Dinh.
According to NNVN - LC
