In conversation with the Thua Thien Hue Weekend Newspaper, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Phan Ngoc Tho said:
Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Phan Ngoc Tho. Photo: PHAN THANH
Over 20 years with 10 Hue Festivals and 7 Hue Traditional Craft Festivals, the festival model takes shape and become a festival capturing attention in the world festival system. These initial achievements are a big motivation for the province to build a typical festival city of Vietnam.
To this end, it is necessary to continue inheriting the fruits of the previous festivals, confirming the appropriate direction and enriching the festive activities so that Hue can become a four-season festival city. This both promotes the values of endemic cultural heritage and enhances the international exchange and cooperation, contributing to the province's socio-economic development. The project for organizing a four-season festival is not outside the above purpose.
Chairman, Thua Thien Hue is the province that started to organize a form of contemporary festival of the national and international magnitude. Could you be more specific about the cultural-specific foundations for developing the project for 4-season festival organization and the experience of implementing this project after 20 years of festival organization, sir?
Thua Thien Hue is a land rich in cultural identity with diverse folk, religious festive activities and community activities taking place almost all year round. However, these activities are mainly the events of a certain resident community, in limited and less popular space.
The festivals are distributed in all 4 seasons of a year for tourist attraction and the socio-economic development. Photo: TB
After 20 years of organizing the festivals, it is noticeable that the festivals are held in a very short time, but almost all of the richness and quintessence of the cultural-artistic heritage, living art, community activities, spiritual life, traditional crafts of indigenous residents from the royal court, academy to the folk, traditions, from the classical to the contemporary are all present to show off with tourists everywhere.
This bears witness to the richness and diversity of Hue culture, which produces a fascination for festivals, affirms the position and builds the brand for Hue Festival.
However, so many different types of cultural activities organized at the same time in a festival causes many difficulties, even overload in organizational work and are unfavorable for the public’s enjoyment. Meanwhile, the rest of the year does not have many activities to attract tourists.
This reality necessitates a comprehensive plan for research and exploitation of cultural resources and landscapes in order to conserve and promote their own value, reasonably distribute them all year round. This creates a dynamic atmosphere for the city, contributing to diversifying tourism products and attracting tourists.
What are the principles on which the project for organizing a four-season festival based and are there any highlights, sir?
The general principle is based on cultural activities, folk festivals, and newly-introduced festivals of the community significance within a reasonable time frame to connect community activities as satellites. This helps to develop or build a number of major cultural and artistic activities, as the "backbone" for the festival of each season.
Accordingly, the project was built with the target of organizing a chain of festivals and distributing festivals in all four seasons of a year for tourist attraction and the socio-economic development to make Hue truly a typical festival city of Vietnam.
Could you please talk about the theme and highlight of each festival season?
The project for building a festival chain for each season on the basis of connecting and exploiting the strengths of belief and folklore activities that take place all year round in the province makes Hue truly a festive city with professional, diverse and multi-field activities throughout the four seasons of the year. It meets the diverse needs of tourists as well as the cultural life of Hue residents and exploits the strengths of monuments, tourist attractions, cultural and historical values in the province.
Accordingly, in spring, there will be Hue Folk Festival. This is the stage when many of the most traditional festival activities of the year are available - one of the strengths to exploit for tourists to learn about the local traditional culture.
The peak of the chain of activities from the Princess Huyen Tran Temple Festival on January 9 to the Nguyên tiêu New Year’s Day (on the night of the fifteenth of the first lunar month) in order to pin great hope on the ancestors. The activities before the festival will take place from the opening of the spring flower festival: wrestling festival, fairy swing festival, and boat racing festival... Concurrently, there will appear a chain of activities in the city center such as the stages for traditional folk art, culinary space, exhibitions, cultural space of ethnic minorities.
There will be Hue Festival in summer (even year) and Hue Traditional Craft Festival (odd year). The main content is that Hue Festival (even year) and Hue Traditional Craft Festival (odd year) are looked on as the main axis. Tourists in this season are mainly domestic tourists, so introducing the general art forms nationwide and worldwide (for even-year festivals) and honoring traditional craft villages (for odd-year festivals) remain the factors that make the difference of the destination to attract tourists.
That is to say, the characteristic of an international art festival with the art forms combined with street festivals, ao dai festivals, royal court festivals and royal night banquets…is still maintained.
In autumn, there will be Hue International Cuisine Festival. The National Day is chosen for the time to organize Cuisine Festival with the guideline of promoting Hue - the imperial capital of cuisine. The organizational space will be divided into different types and subjects. Interspersed with those are the contests of cuisine, food processing and the festival programs for folk dance, hip-hop...
Winter has Hue Music Festival. Hue Music Festival will be held from mid-December to New Year with a peak from Christmas to New Year celebrations to create highlights. Winter Music Festival aims to build a periodic international music festival. Depending on the practical conditions, the province can organize the international music competitions in Hue.
When will the four-season festival be organized?
The four-season festival is scheduled to be organized in 2022. However, from 2021, the province will choose to develop several festivals to test the organizational model, the ability to coordinate, manage activities among units in order to adjust accordingly, learn from experience when the festival officially takes place.
Thank you, sir
By THAI BINH