Impressive Hue Festival 2006 Begins

The 2006 Hue Festival entitled “700 years of Thuan Hoa-Phu Xuan-Thua Thien Hue - cultural heritage, integration and development” started on June 3 after months of preparations, embracing the unique values of Hue, as well as Vietnamese culture through hundreds of festivity programs.

The biannual event, which is considered one of the biggest cultural festivals in Vietnam, is seen as a good chance for both local people and foreigners to better understand each other’s culture and tradition and to further advertise the image of Hue in particular and the land, culture and people of Vietnam in general.

 

Under the moniker, the nine-day festival featuring unique art and cultural programs and festivals welcomes more than 1,200 Vietnamese artists and 300 others from France, Russia, China, Japan, the UK, South Korea, Indonesia and Thailand to perform at the event, Ngo Hoa vice Chairman of provincial People’s Committee said, adding that nearly 500 reporters and journalists from Vietnam and many other countries will cover the news on the festival.

 

From June 3-11, a number of professional art programs and records will be showcased every night inside the Citadel and An Dinh Palace. These programs will be linked to public activities involving culture, tourism, and art performance, which will take place in the Citadel and its adjacent areas.

 

Particularly, many festivities and ceremonies under the King’s reign will be revived through the form of art performances such as the “Truyen lo” festivity, Announcement Ceremony of candidates who passed the national examination, and Procession Ceremony of Golden Panel (on which names of candidates who passed the national examination are written) from the Noon Gate to Van Lau Pavilion.

 

In addition, the Nam Giao Festival will be revived unlike during Festival Hue 2004 in order to represent the magnificent and imposing scene of a traditional royal festival of Vietnam.

 

Notably, the festival will for the first time see performances featuring the Central Highlands gong culture. The deep and subtle sound of the gong orchestra in combination with the time-honored dances of people from the Central Highlands region will foster an amazing atmosphere.

 

Some records will also be displayed at the festival. In particular, collections of works by a total of 1,000 contemporary poets born in Thua Thien-Hue will be on show, marking a new record in the field of art and literature.

 

All of these programs will make Hue an imposing, impressive and attractive place to both domestic and international tourists.

 

The every-two-year festival, which is scheduled to conclude in June 11, is expected to greet thousands of tourists during the event, Hoa said, revealing that the province has spent around VND30 billion (nearly US US$2 million) on the preparation of the fiesta.

 

Hue Festival is firstly held in 2000. Since then, four events, including this year’s event have been organized.

 

The Hue Citadel, with more than 1,000 facilities, built under the reign of the Nguyen dynasty (1802-1945), was recognized as world cultural heritage by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1993. The city also preserves famous intangible cultural heritage, especially Nha Nhac (Court Music), which was recognized as a masterpiece of oral and intangible cultural heritage of humanity by UNESCO.