Restoring Phu Gia traditional fairy swing festival

Beating the drum to open the festival

Phu Gia village has existed for nearly 300 years. The village borders Lap An village to the East, Tho Son village to the West, Phu Hai village to the North, which is located on the North - South ‘thousand miles’ road, a place preserving and nurturing traditional folk cultural values. Over the past decades, Tet holidays have always been bustling with festivals holding many folk cultural heritages such as fairy swings, hat boi performances, the “bai choi” game, and rice pounding chanty.

After many years of absence, in early 2024, with the spiritual and material support from the Provincial Union of Literature and Arts Associations, and the Provincial Folk Arts Association, Phu Loc District People's Committee, and Loc Tien Commune People's Committee have carried out the restoration of the fairy swing festival.

The restoration of the Phu Gia fairy swing festival is a great effort by cultural researchers and the locals, as Thua Thien Hue's folk festival database no longer has information about this festival.

According to Mr. Nguyen The, a researcher and Chairman of the Provincial Folk Arts Association, the restoration of the fairy swing festival in Phu Gia is a joy for the locals of Phu Gia in particular and Thua Thien Hue in general. In the future, a national intangible heritage profile of this fairy swing festival will be developed.

Following are some joyful photos recorded at the Phu Gia traditional fairy swing festival:

Wearing safety belts and preparing for the swings

The bright smiles of the locals when participating in the fairy swing game in the early days of the spring

The villagers' dream of flying high from ancient times is realistically reenacted

The joyful laughter and the rotation of the fairy swings make the spring atmosphere warm in the countryside