Con Son – Kiep Bac Spring Festival has come. These days, roads to the sacred land of Chi Linh (Hai Duong) have been crowded with flows of people enjoying the spring.
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Vegetarian and meaty meals are offered following traditional rites to ask for permission to open the spring festival at Kiep Bac temple
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Animated spring walksSince At Mui Tet (Lunar New Year of the Goat), Chi Linh provincial town, especially the special national historical relic site of Con Son – Kiep Bac, has always been overshadowed by red flags and banners and crowded with people and vehicles enjoying the spring and festival.
Coming to the spiritual place, apart from contemplating pagoda scenery in spring weather and praying for a new year with abundant health and peaceful family conditions, everyone has also made donations with a desire to contribute to the relic renovation.
Environmental hygiene at the relic site has been guaranteed. The festival information station has introduced visitors Con Son's unique cultural and historical value along with announcements reminding visitors to strictly abide by relic protection regulations, etc. Those coming to enjoy the spring and make offerings early in the year have complied with the Relic Management Unit's regulations on burning incense and votive papers, placing small change, etc.
This year, drawing tourists' attention are photo series of "Uncle Ho with Hai Duong" and "Uncle Ho with Con Son" placed in Con Son pagoda yard, consisting of 43 black and white documentary photos of Uncle Ho taken during his visits to Hai Duong and Con Son, and stored in Ho Chi Minh Museum, many of which have been displayed for the first time. Uncle's images are really simple like he was mixed with the sky and earth of Con Son 50 years ago.
18 Arhat statues with high aestheticism and plasticity seated in two corridors of Con Son pagoda right before Tet are also attractive to visitors. The bronze statues, weighing 500 – 1,000kg each, were cast thanks to donation sources. The system of Arhat statues has made the national pagoda more majestic and imbued with Buddhist color.
Burning incense and visiting and worshipping the Arhat statues together with her family members, Nguyen Thi Nen in Hai Duong city said: "My family goes to Con Son – Kiep Bac to attend the spring festival early in every year. I found the atmosphere very lively. Guaranteed security and order have helped visitors feel secure and comfortable. The relic's landscape has been increasingly spacious thanks to renovation."
February 28 (lunar January 10) fell on the weekend; therefore, many tourists flocked to Kiep Bac on the morning of the day to attend an incense offering ceremony to open Con Son – Kiep Bac spring festival.
In the boisterous sound of drums and gongs, vegetarian and meaty meals were taken to the temple yard and central chamber by representatives of local authorities and residents and pilgrims following traditional rituals.
The phenomena of insistent invitation, overcharging, divination, small change exchange, beggary, etc. were conspicuous issues in Kiep Bac during many previous festivals but have been brought to an end this year.
The drastic suppression of evils and taking of petition writers from the temple yard to outside places have made the inner space tranquil and sacred. Visitors to the site can also be relaxed and cheerful to enjoy spiritual and cultural value.
During the festival, many folk games and traditional art performances will take place in Kiep Bac.
According to the Management Unit of Con Son – Kiep Bac Relics, this year's weather is nice and Con Son – Kiep Bac's spiritual and cultural value has been increasingly heightened, drawing a large number of arrivals. In nine At Mui Tet holidays alone, both Con Son and Kiep Bac relics welcomed around 115,000 turns of tourists coming for sightseeing and worshipping. Most crowded were the 4th and 5th days of Tet with about 30,000 turns of arrivals each day.
Large-scale festivalThis year's Con Son – Kiep Bac spring festival is associated with the 50th anniversary of Uncle Ho's visit to Con Son, and thus being held on a large scale with many activities taking place from March 4 - 7 (i.e. lunar January 14 - 17).
Although the festival opening day has not come, cultural and art activities and folk games have jubilantly taken place since Tet. The gate of Con Son pagoda has been busy with cheo (traditional operetta) and quan ho (love duet) singing venues.
Adding color to the spring festival are the activities of word giving in early spring at the inner three-door gate; Vietnamese calligraphy, portrait sketching in the corridors of Con Son pagoda, etc.
The first event of the 2015 Con Son – Kiep Bac spring festival was the Chung (square glutinous rice cake) and Day (round glutinous rice cake) Cake Contest on lunar January 14. The contest brought us to the unique fine custom of ancestors in thousands of years.
Right from early morning, thousands of locals and visitors from every where were present to wallow in the festive space. The stone yard of Con Son pagoda seemingly smashed up after opening drumbeats. Chung cake wrapping movements inherently familiar to each Vietnamese family on Tet occasions were shown in agility and dexterity.
The day cake pestling contest was vibrant and bustling when artisans hurriedly took water, made a fire, and steamed glutinous rice. The thuds of pestle strokes seemingly resounded from the old days in urging drumbeats and shouts. In a sacred space between the sky and earth, Vietnamese descendents sincerely offered the familiar and plain products made of rice to their ancestors.
The spring feast has just begun. Apart from traditional ceremonies like incense offering, cake offering, sacrifice offering on Ngu Nhac Linh Tu mountain, and requiem for forsaken spirits, coming to this year's spring festival, tourists will have an opportunity to enjoy many unique rituals and events.
Taking place on the main festival day are the 5th Hai Duong provincial clay firecracker festival in the morning, a ground breaking ceremony for the construction of a nine-storeyed lotus-shaped tower in Con Son pagoda and the opening and competitions of a national wrestling tournament in the afternoon, and the 50th anniversary of Uncle Ho's visit to Con Son and the opening of the 2015 Con Son – Kiep Bac spring festival in the evening.
Con Son – Kiep Bac have entered the spring festival with flows of people eagerly going on a pilgrimage in peace.
NGOC HUNG
