Nghe An: Nearly 100 festivals have not been licensed to be held

Deputy Head of the Culture - Social Committee of the Provincial People's Council Nguyen Thi Lan chaired the meeting. Photo: Minh Chi

According to a report from the Department of Culture and Sports, there are 126 festivals in the province, of which 29 are licensed. Thus, currently, the whole province has 97 festivals that have not been licensed to organize festivals.

In general, the management and organization of festivals in the province have recently made positive changes. The ceremonies are solemnly organized and the festival is lively; along with that, the festival space is planned and standardized, ensuring security and order and maintaining environmental hygiene.

However, through field surveys of some festivals in Ky Son, Yen Thanh, Thanh Chuong, Hung Nguyen districts... the Provincial People's Council's Culture and Social Committee also raised some concerns about the current management and organization of festivals.

Ms. Thai Thi An Chung - Deputy Head of the Provincial People's Council's Legal Department, a member of the survey team, raised the issue that currently, festivals are often associated with historical and cultural relics and according to regulations, at festivals, tour guides must be arranged to introduce the historical and cultural values ​​of the relics. However, this activity has not been focused on at festivals, while the main target audience at festivals is young people, but they do not understand the historical and cultural traditions of their homeland and nation.

The Deputy Head of the Provincial People's Council's Legal Department also said that the policy is to return festivals to the community, the people are the subjects of the festivals, but the festivals are often organized according to tradition, coinciding with working days. This invisibly separates a force of cadres, civil servants, public employees and students from the festivals.

Therefore, it is necessary to consider adjusting the festival time appropriately, creating conditions for all people to participate in activities in the locality.

Children's entertainment services are arranged right on the traffic safety corridor at Bach Ma Temple Festival (Thanh Chuong)

Some members of the survey team of the Provincial People's Council's Culture and Society Committee also pointed out some limitations, such as the unscientific planning at the Qua Son Temple Festival (Do Luong); the guidance for the festival at Hoang Temple (Yen Thanh) did not ensure civilization; at the Hoang Muoi Temple Festival, there was still a situation of soliciting tourists, causing disgust...

In particular, there is still a state of commercialization in games and poor management of spiritual services at festivals... In addition, there are also some issues regarding food safety and hygiene, and price management of services at festivals that were also raised by some members. The survey team of the Provincial People's Council is also concerned about the fact that there are still nearly 100 relics that have not been licensed to organize festival activities.

Deputy Director of the Department of Culture and Sports Tran Thi My Hanh admitted some shortcomings and limitations at festivals. Photo: Minh Chi

Acknowledging the fact that some spiritual services are not strictly managed, Ms. Tran Thi My Hanh - Deputy Director of the Department of Culture and Sports, said that currently, the Ministry has not issued regulations to manage this activity and at the provincial level, regulations on the management and use of merit have only been issued.

According to Ms. My Hanh, to properly manage festival activities and ensure safety and civilization, it is not only the responsibility of the culture and sports sector but also requires attention to inter-sectoral coordination in price management, ensuring food hygiene and safety, ensuring traffic safety, etc.

Ms. Tran Thi My Hanh also said that currently, there are nearly 100 unlicensed festivals on a small scale in villages and communes. However, the Department is also very interested in guiding and directing these festivals.

Concluding the meeting, in addition to appreciating the changes in festival management and organization, Deputy Head of the Culture - Social Committee of the Provincial People's Council Nguyen Thi Lan also emphasized: The whole province has a large number of festivals, so it is recommended that the Department of Culture - Sports needs to review the whole, especially the festivals managed and organized by the district, commune, village and hamlet levels to come up with a unified management solution for the whole province.

Survey team at the food selling area at Bach Ma Temple festival. Photo: Minh Chi

During the organization process, both the ceremony and the festival, the Department of Culture and Sports needs to direct and guide localities to exploit and promote the unique and distinctive cultural features of each festival; along with that, coordinate well with localities to strictly control games, avoid disguised gambling; pay attention to planning work to ensure civilization, politeness, order and safety; focus on propaganda work so that people and tourists understand, thereby spreading the historical and cultural values ​​of relics and festivals in the community.

The Deputy Head of the Culture - Social Committee of the Provincial People's Council also requested the Department to proactively research and guide localities to effectively manage spiritual services at festivals; at the same time, coordinate well with sectors and localities to ensure comprehensive management of festival activities in the most effective way.