Delegates cutting the opening ribbon
The main highlight of this year’s program was the display and seriously organized fan giving ceremony in the ancient palace. For the first time, the Thang Long – Hanoi Heritage Conservation Center recreated the space of the fan giving ceremony in the Royal Palace on the occasion of the Mid-Year Festival. Members of Thang Long Cultural Heritage Association and Y Van Hien Company participated in the fan giving ceremony. Participants were dressed in ancient royal clothes, practiced rituals and received fans given by the King. The ceremony took place in solemnity, leaving many emotions and impressions for the viewers.
In the royal court, under the Le dynasty, the King and the court solemnly held ancestral sacrifice rituals, court hearing, and banquets, giving fans to the mandarins, showing the authority of the heavenly son and carrying deep human values. Rituals were held at Thai Mieu and Chi Kinh Palace. In Mid-year Festival, a special ceremony, which is fan giving, was held. The King would give fans to the mandarins. The ceremony of giving fans to the mandarins was held to show the authority of the son of heaven.
To prepare for this ceremony, the court assigned the Ministry of Finance to allocate wages to prepare the fans for the Mid-year Festival. Dao Xa Village, which used to belong to Ngoc Cuc Cluster, Duong An district, Thuong Hong Province, Hai Duong town (now Dao Quat Village, Bai Say commune, An Thi district, Hung Yen province), was assigned the task of making fans. Fans, after being finished, would be sent to Van Mieu and Vu Mieu and given by the King to his royal family as well as literary and martial mandarins who were in office, millitary officials in sections and divisions under the Ministry. In the hot weather of Mid-year Festival, the fan giving ceremony is a show of the king’s special care for the mandarins. The king’s grace of giving fan also has a deep meaning. It meant to give “Blessings, Health, and Peace”.
Reenactment of the fan giving ceremony
In the program, Thang Long – Hanoi Heritage Conservation Center displayed a fan collection of artisan Duong Van Doan. A royal fan with a size of 2.4m with a poem by King Le Hien Tong written on the fan in 1503 and a number of fans for kings, queens and mandarins re-made from the sources were also displayed. Visitors can also experience fan making under the guidance of artisan Duong Van Doan.
In addition, coming to the exhibition space, visitors can also learn the unique customs of the Mid-Year Festival, including “killing insects”, wearing iridescent charms through iridescent amulets restored based on artifacts kept at the Quai Branly Museum (France) and the colorful space of a shop on the old Hang Mun street, picking Southern medicinal herbs to promote folk knowledge of using herbs to take care of people’s health… through a system of exhibits, panels, and interpretive paintings.
In particular, within the framework of the program, visitors can also listen to historian Le Van Lan talk about the Mid-Year Festival rituals in the old palace, listen to culinary artist Nguyen Anh Tuyet introduce the custom of “killing insects” in the festival, and listen to artisan Duong Van Doan introduce the process of making fans.
Artists guide visitors to experience making fans
Mr. Nguyen Thanh Quang, Director of Thang Long-Hanoi Heritage Conservation Center, said: The program “Mid-Year Festival now and in the past” 2022 aims to honor the cultural traditions of the nation, promote the royal cultural values of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long, with the desire to bring visitors the most unique tourism products, imbued with traditional culture. Visitors will have a better experience and understanding of the fine traditional culture of the nation. The Mid-Year Festival program will become an annual event held at the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long, contributing to preserving and promoting the values of traditional customs and traditions, especially educating the younger generation to understand and love the culture imbued with Vietnamese national identity.
On this occasion, the Hue Monuments Conservation Center presented the Thang Long-Hanoi Heritage Conservation Center with 4 fFirmiana simplexes to plant in the Thang Long Imperial Citadel. This is a precious tree, associated with the land of the ancient capital of Hue. The four firmiana simplexes are the feelings and hearts of Hue people for Hanoi capital. They would become even more meaningful when planted in the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long./.
Quynh Anh