Restore civilized festival lifestyle
(Baonghean) -2011 has come to its final months, the traditional festivals of the year are also coming to an end to prepare for a new festival season that is about to take place. Looking back at more than 20 festivals in the year, we see many things worth noting but also many concerns.
The most noticeable thing is that traditional festivals in the whole province have developed in both scale and quantity. This is the driving force to revive traditional cultural features, creating conditions for localities to restore and preserve values with their own identity. At the same time, through festivals, each locality has more opportunities to promote its image to friends near and far. And above all, festivals are an opportunity for people to review traditions, build increasingly sustainable feelings for their homeland, and an opportunity for community members to expand exchanges, thereby strengthening solidarity... After the festival season, people happily and excitedly return to their daily lives.
Con throwing - a folk game at Cua Rao Temple Festival (Tuong Duong).
However, in addition to the positive factors, some festivals still have shortcomings that need to be overcome soon. A rather painful problem for many festivals is the situation of littering, causing environmental pollution and the landscape of the festival. A typical example of this situation is the Cuong Temple Festival (Dien Chau). Due to the large number of attendees, the festival's Organizing Committee (OC) cannot control the work of ensuring environmental hygiene. Therefore, littering is everywhere in the temple yard and festival yard. Along with that is the situation of burning votive papers in large quantities, which not only wastes money but also pollutes the environment. It should be added that, since July 2010, the Government has issued Decree 75 regulating administrative sanctions for violations in cultural activities, including the act of burning votive papers at festival venues, historical-cultural relics and other public places. But it seems that in many festivals, the above Decree has been "forgotten". Not to mention that some festivals still have the phenomenon of disguised gambling in the form of prize games such as the simulation game of the program "Magic Hat", ring tossing... These disguised gambling games have caused negative impacts on all classes of people, especially the young. In fact, many children are not interested in festival activities but only hang around with games of chance. And a typical example of this phenomenon is still the Cuong Temple Festival. In the festival grounds, there are dozens of locations organizing disguised gambling games with loudspeakers turned on at full capacity. This situation still often occurs at the Nguyen Xi Temple Festival (Nghi Loc) in previous years. Since 2011, the Organizing Committee has issued regulations prohibiting the above activities from taking place within the festival grounds. But outside, these activities still take place openly. In addition, at some festival locations, the phenomenon of beggars soliciting tourists has become quite common. Typical examples include the Con Temple Festival (Quynh Luu) and Hoang Muoi Temple Festival (Hung Nguyen). This phenomenon can be said to be both unsightly and leave an unsightly image in the eyes of friends near and far, especially tourists.
Besides, there are still many localities that organize festivals in a safe, economical and healthy way. These are festivals in mountainous areas such as Cua Rao Temple Festival (Tuong Duong), Pu Nha Thau Temple (Ky Son), Chin Gian Temple (Que Phong). In particular, we must mention Cua Rao Temple Festival. The most outstanding feature of this festival is the spirit of community solidarity of ethnic groups living in Tuong Duong district (Thai, Kho Mu, Mong, Kinh, Tay Poong, O Du), which is an opportunity for everyone to meet and exchange friendship, contributing to making the relationship increasingly strong. The folk games of ethnic groups (crossbow shooting, throwing con, carving bamboo, jumping bamboo...) are exploited to the maximum, creating an exciting atmosphere for all the people and tourists from all over to come here to enjoy the festival. During the festival, there is no such thing as fortune telling, fortune telling or disguised gambling. People and tourists who come to burn incense and participate in entertainment can rest assured because security and order are always guaranteed. The festival organizing committee divides the management area for the participating units, and the units are responsible for regularly cleaning up the waste in the area under their management. Therefore, the environment before, during and after the festival is always clean and beautiful.
At present, the Department of Culture and localities are actively drafting plans for the 2012 festival season. It is thought that, in addition to expanding the scale and developing the quantity, it is necessary to pay attention to overcoming the shortcomings and limitations of each festival. This will both restore the civilized and healthy lifestyle of traditional festival activities and create a beautiful image in the eyes of friends and tourists from near and far.
Cong Kien