Announcement of the opening of the Con Son - Kiep Bac spring festival 2024

This is the opening ceremony for this year's Con Son - Kiep Bac Spring Festival program.

In front of the Silver House (Kiep Bac relic site), leaders of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, some members of the festival organizing committee, leaders and sacrificial teams of Hung Dao commune (Chi Linh)... respectfully offered incense, flowers, and offerings to inform the Saint and the gods for permission to open the festival.

Next, the delegates offered incense at Kiep Bac Temple. In the sacred space, with the incense smoke silently burning, the sacrificial teams from Van Son, Duoc Son, and Bac Dau villages performed the ceremony according to traditional rituals.

Although it was the first day of the week, the opening ceremony of the Con Son - Kiep Bac Spring Festival 2024 still attracted a large number of people and tourists to attend.

The announcement is an indispensable ritual before each festival. In addition to respectfully reporting to the Saint and the gods to ask for permission to hold the festival, this is also an occasion for the people of Hung Dao commune to perform a traditional blessing ceremony.

The blessing ceremony is one of the important and sacred rituals, a unique spiritual and cultural activity imbued with the cultural beauty of the local people. The purpose of the ceremony is to pray for favorable weather, bountiful crops, development of production and business, and family harmony. Thereby, it propagates and educates the younger generation about the history of the nation as well as shows gratitude for the great contributions of our ancestors who have protected and built our homeland and country. The ritual contributes to preserving and promoting the traditional cultural beauty of Hai Duong people for generations.

The Con Son - Kiep Bac Spring Festival 2024 takes place from February 19 to March 3 (January 10-23) with many rich and attractive activities. The key events will start from February 23 (January 14), starting with the Chung cake wrapping and Giay cake pounding contest. Next will be a series of unique rituals, imbued with historical and cultural values ​​such as: water procession, worship on Ngu Nhac mountain, worship at Nguyen Trai temple, the death anniversary of the Third Patriarch of Truc Lam Huyen Quang Ton Gia, Mong Son food offering...

In particular, on February 25 (January 16), during the opening ceremony, the Organizing Committee will announce the Prime Minister's decision to recognize the Three Buddha statues of Con Son Pagoda as a national treasure.

In this year's festival program, the "Cultural Heritage Connection Journey" Cross-Country Race will be held for the first time.

The festival includes many activities such as Chung cake wrapping contest, Day cake pounding contest, clay firecracker festival, traditional wrestling, chess competition, Culinary Culture Week, tourism and trade promotion...

Dr. Le Duy Manh, Deputy Head of the Con Son - Kiep Bac Relic Management Board, said that from February 10-19 (January 1-10 of the lunar calendar), the relic site welcomed about 180,000 visitors. To date, all preparations for the festival have been basically completed.