Traditional Hue ritual, trade fair draw festival visitors

The sacred Nam Giao Offering Ritual took place on April 8 at the Nam Giao Esplanade, as part of the on-going Hue festival.

The Nam Giao Offering Ritual was one of the most important traditional ceremonies under the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945), which honoured the sky and the earth. It focused around the desire for peace, prosperity and favourable weather.

This year’s ceremony began at 8pm, with a procession of 34 wooden tablets carried from Trai Cung, the Palace of Fasting Palace, to the Nam Giao Esplanade, with over 1,000 people dressed in traditional royal costumes taking part.

The Nam Giao Esplanade, a three story monument, was built in Duong Xuan village, south of the Hue citadel, in 1806. The top floor was circular to symbolise the sky but the two floors below were square to symbolise the earth and man. The Nguyen Dynasty usually held this ritual in mid-February with the King or the head mandarin acting as the officiating priest.

As part of the 2012 Hue festival, a six-day international trade fair opened the same day with 350 companies from across the country and several from Laos, China, Thailand, the Philippines and Taiwan exhibiting their goods and services.

Also on the day, the National Centre of Traditional Performance Art from the Republic of Korea (RoK) presented a set of Vietnamese Court music instruments to the Hue Centre for the Preservation of Relics.

The instruments, including a magnificent bronze bell and a large musical stone, were restored with financial assistance from the RoK.

Since 2010, both countries have worked together to collect and study various old documents and have supported training for local people to give them the skills to restore Vietnamese Court musical instruments.

Oriental cultures spotlighted at Hue festival

The ancient royal palaces in Hue seemed to travel back in time on the evening of April 10, with flags, sparkling candles, lanterns and the aroma of incense in the air, giving visitors to Hue festival a taste of life as a Royal during the Nguyen Dynasty, from 1802-1945.

The “Dem Hoang Cung” (Royal Night) event, one of the highlights at Hue festival, will be staged on the night of April 10 and 13, with a range of artistic performances of Court music and dance, traditional songs from Hue as well as its cuisine, including royal dishes.

Visitors take part in some of the scenes, such as the princess’s procession and the changing of the guard ceremony.

The Royal Night also honoured the unique cultural values of other countries in the region with a fashion show featuring traditional costumes from Japan, the Republic of Korea, India, Mongolia, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos, Cambodia as well as Vietnam.

Earlier that day, the first international drum and percussion instrument festival gathered together hundreds of Bronze and Royal drummers, the Tay Son war drum group and musicians playing Tay Nguyen gongs.

The sound of the bronze drum symbolises the nation’s vitality. It calls the people to gather on festival days or warns of natural disasters and invaders, historian Duong Trung Quoc said, adding that keeping the sound of the bronze drum maintains our national culture.

Also as a part of the Hue festival, an exhibition of photos is being held at the Royal Palace, with 29 photos of Hue by Vietnamese photographer Dao Hoa Nu and 60 others focusing on Vietnam, its countryside and its people, by Japanese photographer Teruyo Iwahiro.

During its first three days from April 7-9, Hue festival attracted 65,000 tourists, including 30,000 from overseas.