Spring Festival jubilantly opens
Xã hội - Ngày đăng : 11:47, 17/02/2014
The Organizing Board of Con Son – Kiep Bac Festival on the morning of February 15 (the 16th day of the first lunar month) opened the 2014 spring festival.
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| Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, Member of the Politburo, Secretary of the Central Party Committee, Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly, visits Nguyen Trai temple |
The Organizing Board of Con Son – Kiep Bac Festival on the morning of February 15 (the 16th day of the first lunar month) opened the 2014 spring festival and commemorated the 680th death anniversary of Venerable Truc Lam Tertiary Ancestor Huyen Quang.
Attending the event were Party, State, and Hai Duong province leaders, a delegation from Suwon city (South Korea), international guests, and tens of thousands of pilgrims and Buddhist monks, nuns, and followers in and outside the province.
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| Mr. Bui Thanh Quyen, Member of the Central Party Committee, Secretary of the provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the provincial People's Council, Head of the provincial Delegation of National Assembly Deputies, offers incense at Con Son pagoda |
Delegates attend the festival opening ceremony
Art performance at the festival opening ceremony
In his opening speech, Mr. Nguyen Van Que, Vice Chairman of the provincial People's Committee, Head of the Organizing Board of Con Son – Kiep Bac Festival, highlighted the significance and importance of Con Son relic site, one of original places of Truc Lam Zen Buddhist sect; great merits of Truc Lam Zen Buddhist sect and Venerable Tertiary Ancestor Huyen Quang; and special cultural values of Con Son – Kiep Bac Festival.
"Con Son – Kiep Bac Festival has contributed to forming a special and diverse cultural feature of not only Hai Duong but also the country and become a continuous flow of "convergence, crystallization, and pervasion" thanks to the vitality of culture and wishes of millions of compatriots from all over the country visiting the area in spring and autumn to respectfully express their aspiration to build up the spirits of patriotism and self-help for self-improvement and the will of defending the national independence bequeathed from ancestors," said Mr. Que.
"Also from here, the spirits and will have spread and deeply rooted in the mind of every patriotic family and citizen inclining to the good, becoming an important cultural feature in the cultural heritage treasure of Vietnam."
Visitors to Con Son - Kiep Bac Spring Festival
The 4th Hai Duong provincial Earthen Firecracker Festival on the morning of February 15 took place at Con Son relic site according to the program of the 2014 Con Son – Kiep Bac Spring Festival.
The Earthen Firecracker Festival attracts six teams from three districts of Ninh Giang, Tu Ky, and Gia Loc
The 2014 Open Hai Duong provincial National Wrestling Championship was also held at Con Son relic site in the afternoon of the same day.
Exciting wrestling tournament
From the beginning of the first lunar month to the opening day of the festival, the Con Son – Kiep Bac Spring Festival lured close to 400,000 visitors from far and near.
After the opening ceremony, many reconstructed activities standardized pursuant to traditional rituals, such as sacrifice and incense offering to Tu Do (title of a high ranking official in ancient Vietnam) Tran Nguyen Dan, National Hero and World Cultural Celebrity Nguyen Trai, and National Hero Tran Hung Dao; an offering ceremony for heaven and earth; le dan Mong Son thi thuc (requiem for forsaken spirits), etc. will continue to take place at the festival.
The festival part will feature such cultural activities as art performances, banh chung (square glutinous rice cake) packing, banh day (sticky rice dumpling) pestling, folk games, etc.
With a rich and special program, the festival is expected to further attract numerous visitors in and outside the province.
(HaiDuongnews)