Con Son - Kiep Bac Festival attracts tourists

Scene of the Peace Prayer Ceremony - Lantern Festival in the Con Son - Kiep Bac Festival program

On September 15 (ie August 20 of the lunar calendar), the procession, the sacrificial ceremony and the death anniversary of Saint Tran within the framework of the 2022 Con Son-Kiep Bac Autumn Festival ended at the Kiep Bac relic site. These were the final ceremonies, marking a very successful festival, highly appreciated by many tourists.

Solemn and majestic

In 2020 and 2021, due to the complicated developments of the Covid-19 pandemic, the scale of the festival was shortened to suit the actual situation. This year, the festival took place on its original scale and stature, with the main rituals standardized such as: Memorial and opening ceremony, Seal opening and granting ceremony, Peace praying ceremony - lantern festival, Tran Hung Dao death anniversary; unique folk rituals and games such as: Saint performance, water puppetry. In particular, the Con Son - Kiep Bac Autumn Festival Culture - Tourism Week was held for the first time to promote tourism products and typical products of Hai Duong to a large number of people and tourists from all over the world. On September 5, the Incense Offering Ceremony and the Announcement Ceremony were solemnly held at Kiep Bac Temple. This is the first ritual, understood as asking for permission to open the autumn festival. This is followed by a series of activities within the framework as well as on the sidelines of the festival.

The Con Son-Kiep Bac Autumn Festival takes place in a large space and has rich content.

Rarely is there a relic site like Con Son-Kiep Bac, which is both "literary" and "martial" in parallel, closely associated with the life, career, and reputation of two national heroes: Tran Hung Dao (martial) and World Cultural Celebrity Nguyen Trai (literary). The incense offering ceremony to commemorate the 580th anniversary of the death of National Hero and World Cultural Celebrity Nguyen Trai was solemnly held at Con Son relic site. During the ceremony, visitors from all over expressed their emotions when looking back at his life through the "Returning to Thanh Hu Cave" performance. This was also the day the two relic sites welcomed a record number of visitors, up to 55,000 people...

Not only can visitors from all over the world participate in traditional rituals and unique customs of Con Son - Kiep Bac, they can also witness the grand military gathering, recreating the Dong A spirit that was boiling over 700 years ago, when Tran Hung Dao, with his virtue, wisdom and courage, gathered a large army of ships from various localities to fight.

As a student at the Hanoi University of Culture who loves traditional ceremonies, Ms. Dinh Thi Thuy Trang (Hanoi) said she had heard about the military festival, but this was the first time she witnessed it with her own eyes. "It's grand and very touching. I regret not taking my children to Kiep Bac this season, so they can understand more about the heroic history of their ancestors. I was extremely impressed when the boats passed the ceremony platform with the sound of cheers and drums urging the soldiers and people of the Tran Dynasty to rush into battle," Ms. Thuy Trang said.

A successful festival

Tens of thousands of tourists from all over the world come to Con Son-Kiep Bac to attend the Autumn Festival.

To have a successful event, the organization is the most important factor. In addition, at this year's Autumn Festival, the large number of visitors to Con Son - Kiep Bac also shows the attraction and spread of the festival is growing.

According to the Con Son-Kiep Bac Relic Management Board, about 600,000 visitors came here during the festival, more than the festivals before the Covid-19 pandemic. According to a survey by reporters, many people came to Con Son-Kiep Bac for the first time, showing that the reputation of the special national relic site is increasingly spreading. In particular, visitors are not only limited to some neighboring localities such as Hanoi, Hai Phong, Quang Ninh, Bac Ninh, Bac Giang... as before, but there are also groups of tourists from far away such as Lao Cai, Lang Son, Nghe An, Thanh Hoa...

One thing that is easily seen at the special national relic site of Con Son - Kiep Bac in recent years is that visitors not only get to attend solemn and unique rituals but also immerse themselves in the cool green space of grass, trees and flowers. The landscape of the relic site of Con Son and Kiep Bac is becoming more and more beautiful, taking on the appearance of a large park. Visitors not only get to learn about history, but also get to rest, enjoy local specialties, and travel in the true sense of the word.

Con Son - Kiep Bac has become an attractive spiritual - ecological tourist area.

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Trung, Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Deputy Head of the Organizing Committee of the Con Son-Kiep Bac Autumn Festival, said that preparations for this year's festival had been carefully carried out. The Organizing Committee, including leaders of departments, branches and localities, actively participated and coordinated smoothly to organize rituals and folk games. On the 16th day of the 8th lunar month, more than 30,000 visitors came to the relic site, and on the night of 18th of August, more than 10,000 visitors came, but there was no local congestion and security and order were ensured. The image and responsibility of the service force also left a good impression on visitors from all over.

To spread the image, value and position of the special national relic site, the propaganda work on organizing the festival is one step ahead, diversifying the types of propaganda; the schedule of organizing rituals and performances is promoted and introduced by the mass media... Many newspapers in the far South also reported and published articles about the festival. The work of ensuring security and order, fire prevention, environmental sanitation, and disease prevention is strengthened, especially the prevention of superstitious phenomena, fortune telling, card playing, gambling, and exchanging small denominations for profit. This is the general comment of the people and many tourists from all over the world when asked about this year's festival. However, due to the large number of visitors, there were times when there were traffic jams on the way in, out and in the parking area.

Coming to Con Son, visitors can immerse themselves in the cool green space like a large green park.

An autumn festival has ended with good impressions. Images, information, and reputation of the festival are all over newspapers and social networking sites. The value of the special national relic site Con Son-Kiep Bac and the position of the festival are increasingly soaring, spreading far and wide on the journey to become a world heritage.

TIEN HUY - THANH CHUNG