After 3 years break due to the Covid epidemic, Lim Association has reopened this year, attracting many people and tourists, much more crowded than previous gatherings. This year’s Lim Festival saw many changes that promote the longstanding cultural traditions of the Quan ho Kinh Bac region…

MANY NEW FEATURES IN THE SPRING FUNCTION

We went to Lim Hill on the first day of Lim Festival this year and witnessed the influx of people coming to the festival, much larger than in previous years. Early in the morning, thousands of tourists from all over the world gathered at Lim Hill and Van Tuong Conditioning Lake area to celebrate Spring and the Festival.

The festival is very methodically organized with many changes compared to previous years. The newest point is the square in front of the main stage – where the ground is lowest on the Lim Hill area, the school grounds have been paved with stones to make it cleaner.

In the past it was a grassy ground, so people planted elms and played folk games like catching blindfolded goats, breaking pots… on this ground. But now that the stone background has replaced the grass, the image of the traditional elm is gone and there are no more folk games in this area. On the square’s stage, the brothers and sisters continuously performed Quan-ho songs.

On the slope of Lim are 8 huts of clubs, quan-ho groups of villages in the region. The performance of Quan ho singing on Lim Hill was much more methodical than before, the brothers and sisters immediately used betel nut to invite the visitors to create a very impressive image, and there was no longer the phenomenon that Quan ho took off his hat in earlier years.

However, enjoying Quan Ho performances on the big stage and camps, one can see that most of the brothers and sisters who participate in the performance are many years old, most of them are over 55 years old, while the younger brothers and sisters under 50 years old are looking for red eyes only one or two people can be found. This concern for the survival of the middle generation and the promotion of Quan Ho art is very worrying.

Another new point outside of Lim Hill, Tien Du District has built a new very large square area with an air-conditioned lake, many cultural and sports facilities, and an empty plot of tens of hectares. This place is set up as a cultural and culinary entertainment area for visitors to Hoi Lim. A fair was held along with many restaurants serving food, creating additional services for the Lim association.

According to the Steering Committee of Lim Xuan Quy Mao Festival, the management of this year’s festival has been strengthened to prevent and promptly deal with cases of begging and begging on the festival site. At the same time, check disease prevention, food safety and hygiene, control prices on the festival site; Electronic services and games using high-power speakers are strictly prohibited in locations near the festival center.

The Lim Region Festival Steering Committee strictly prohibits all forms of quan-ho singing “receive money”; Quan-ho singing varieties encourage the use of ethnic musical instruments; Don’t sing new music, don’t sing cheo, don’t sing van dance and other kinds of music not suitable…

The work of ensuring security and order, road safety, food safety and environmental sanitation is focused on the Organizing Committee. The Tien Du District Police Department mobilized 100% of its forces, divided into 25 key groups to participate in the work to ensure security and order, and coordinated with the professional departments of the provincial police and the district military command to strengthen security and order. Traffic safety, fire prevention and fighting at the festival site, the headquarters of the district party committee, the Tien Du District People’s Committee and the surrounding areas.

BAC NINH PROVINCIAL COMMITTEE DANG HUONG AND DRUM DRUMS Opening of Lim Festival

Conducting the opening ceremony of this year’s Lim Festival on the morning of February 2, 2023 (January 12 in the Year of the Rabbit), Nguyen Anh Tuan, secretary of the Bac Ninh Provincial Party Committee, and many provincial leaders offered incense to the Red Pagoda. After the incense ceremony, Provincial Party Committee Secretary Nguyen Anh Tuan performed a drumming ceremony to open the Lim Festival.

On the morning of February 3, 2023 (January 13, Quy Mao), the ceremony from Dinh Ca village to the community house of Lo Bao village and the incense offering ceremony according to the traditional rites took place in the community houses, temples and pagodas in the villages belonging to the Municipalities of Noi Due, Lien Bao and Lim City belong.

Parallel to the ceremony, the festival was held in the center of Lim Hill and in the Van Tuong Lake area. In particular, the Tien Du District inaugurated the Van Tuong Harmonic Lake here and held a fireworks display here on February 2 (January 12) at 9:00 p.m.

Lim Mountain (literal name is Hong Van Son) is located in the center of Lim (Tien Du) city. At the top of the mountain is Hong An Pagoda, a famous ancient temple, the gathering place of many visitors from around the world during each Tet to Spring, when the Lim people jubilantly open the Quan-ho song festival. According to records of historical documents, as well as relics and antiquities still kept in the relic, Hong An Pagoda was built in the 15th century.

In addition to the cultural values ​​of the Lim Mountain Relic Site, Hong An Pagoda is also an important historical site of the Party Committee and the people of Bac Ninh.

In July 1929, revolutionary soldier Ngo Gia Tu was dispatched by the Provisional Central Committee of the Indochina Communist Party to set up the first Communist Party cell in the two provinces of Bac Ninh and Bac Giang to fulfill his mission of propagating the Politburo, Statute and Manifesto of the Indochinese Communist Party in the Youth Revolutionary Branches of Vietnam.

On August 4, 1929, in the Hong Van Pagoda, more than 20 advanced members of the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Revolution in the two provinces of Bac Ninh and Bac Giang were convened to establish the Indochinese Communist Party of Bac Ninh – Bac Giang in February 1930 it was in the Communist Party of Bac Ninh – Bac Giang transformed).

After that, these places became strong bases, which were the security zones of the Central Party Committee and the Tonkin Party Committee in 1941 – 1944. In 1999, the relic site of Mount Lim – Hong An Pagoda was approved by the Ministry of Culture The ranking information is a national historical relic.

The Quan-ho folk song in Bac Ninh was registered by UNESCO in 2009 as a representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity, after the royal court music of Hue, the Gong culture area in the central highlands and the same period as Ca Tru.

Along with the Lim Festival, which has been held since the beginning of spring, Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Bac Ninh Province, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Trung, said that this year, the “Going to Quan Ho” festival will be held at the end of February 2023 to widely promote the unique cultural traditions with local and international friends and to increase the community’s understanding of the land, culture and people of Bac Ninh.