Exciting Mai King Festival

As scheduled, on the 13th and 14th of January of the year of the Pig, the people of Nam Dan once again celebrated the Mai King Festival - a festival that many people from Uncle Ho's hometown and the surrounding areas were looking forward to. The buses from Nam Dan to Vinh were really empty. The Sa Nam market was also held earlier than usual. Everyone wanted to put aside all the worries of life and the hustle and bustle of the fields to join in the festival.

The drums were playing loudly to open the festival.

Before the main festival day (January 13), many exciting activities imbued with solidarity, expressing love for the homeland and the martial spirit of the festival such as: boat racing, wrestling, cockfighting, swing playing, camping, mountain climbing... were held at the following locations: the boat dock of King Mai's tomb; Lam Son dock; the yard of King Mai's Temple, attracting thousands of participants. At night, the competition of Nghe An folk songs and the Sa Nam beauty contest captivated many fans.Folk melodies as smooth and sweet as a mother's lullaby; rustic lyrical love songs; admire the beauty of country girls from Nam Dan, Thanh Chuong, Hung Nguyen, Cua Lo.

The festival was officially opened solemnly on the morning of the 14th day of the first lunar month at the yard of King Mai's tomb, where the sacred energy of Lam River and the majestic Hung Son mountain converge. The opening speech of Mr. Tran Dinh Huong - Chairman of the District People's Committee, Deputy Secretary of the District Party Committee, Head of the Organizing Committee of King Mai festival helped the festival participants understand a part of the history of the struggle and the Mai Thuc Loan uprising in the 8th century that drove out the Tang invaders, gained independence for the country, established the autonomous Van An country for more than 10 consecutive years; at the same time, understand the intelligent, talented, patriotic, and people-loving person of King Mai. The festival is held to commemorate the merits of King Mai and his generals and soldiers, and at the same time to clearly affirm the steadfastness, awareness and pride of the nation, to arouse the tradition of respecting morality, love for the homeland, and awareness of protecting cultural heritages, while contributing to preserving and maintaining the cultural values ​​of the nation in general and the cultural identity of Nam Dan in particular.

At the King Mai temple, the grand ceremony was conducted solemnly and respectfully, attracting many viewers and cheers, especially the wrestling competition of young men from the villages participating to test their skills. Mr. Tran Van Dai (35 years old), hamlet 1A, Nam Thanh commune excitedly said: "As a descendant of King Mai, you must know how to wrestle. Every year I attend the King Mai festival, I have participated in wrestling since I was 15 years old to join in the fun of the festival, to contribute to expressing and affirming the martial spirit of this land". The activities of competing in preparing special dishes with rich characteristics of Nam Dan land such as banh duc, stir-fried mussels, cu do candy... by the women; the tug of war competition of the youth union members of 24 communes and towns; the boating competition; the mountain climbing competition; the volleyball competition between teams from neighboring districts, cities and towns were also equally exciting and vibrant, attracting many viewers and cheers. The booth displays and introduces "homegrown" products of Nam Dan, from oranges, tangerines, grapefruits, sweet potatoes, beans, peanuts, chili peppers to chicken, duck, fish, Nam Nghia tamarind meat and then export rattan and bamboo products; embroidery products, etc., allowing viewers to partly identify the diverse economic development of the locality.

Saying goodbye to the 2007 Mai King Festival, we would like to convey from the previous year's festival (2006) a son of Nam Dan living in Hanoi and a researcher on Mai King, Mr. Dinh Van Hien: "The contribution of Mai King, it can be said that due to history, the current recognition of him is still not really worthy of his achievements in establishing an independent country for more than 10 years - Van An National Capital. I think the province should soon organize a conference on Mai Hac De to affirm his true values".

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