Lunar New Year

Festival of lights: Thousands of local people and
tourists flock to the Nguyen Tieu Festival in the
ancient town of Hoi An in central Quang Nam
Province. The city lights up with lanterns,
candlelit paper flowers and cultural
performances in the old quarter and the Hoai
River. — VNA/VNS Photo Tran Le Lam
Nguyen Tieu (the full moon day of the first
lunar month of the year) Festival is celebrated
all over Viet Nam, but it takes on particular
significance in Hoi An. To mark the full moon,
the central city hosts four major events over the
course of two days. Cong Thanh reports.
Calligrapher Nguyen Minh Nhan is preparing
for the Nguyen Tieu (the first full moon day of
the first lunar month of the year) Festival,
which falls on February 13-14 this year.
The festival comes every year, but for Nhan who
was born and grew up in the ancient town of
Hoi An, it is the most important spiritual event
of the year.

His offerings are often vegetarian, including
rice, salt, wine, aloeswood, votive ancestral
tablets and paper.
The festival is not only a full moon event, but a
time to worship the ancestors, the founders of
the city and the souls of the dead, and to wish
for a peaceful and prosperous year.
The event is seen the most favourite cross-
cultural event of the local people, expats and
tourists in Hoi An, with lanterns decorating all
the streets and flower garlands, and now
candles, being floated down in the Hoai River.
"The first lunar month starts a year of business
with new hope. Spiritually, the Vietnamese
people believe that they make offerings and
worship their ancestors and the God of the Land
for all people," said Nhan.
"All families in Hoi An prepare offerings at
home, while community worship is done in
communal houses. However, the festival is
gradually becoming an annual rendezvous for
the local people and tourists on the banks of the
river where thousands of candlelit paper
flowers light up the river in the Spring festival
season," he explained.
According to Truong Hoang Vinh, from Hoi An
Town's Centre for Cultural Heritage
Management and Preservation, the first lunar
month of the year is the most crowded festive
season.
"Four major events – offerings made in the
Spring festivals, lanterns, release of candles and
prayers for luck at the Fujian club – are held
between the 14th and 16th day of the first lunar
month," Vinh said.
"Like many festivals in Hoi An, the Long Chu
Festival, or Spring offering, is a religious
ceremony that helps do away with evil spirits,
while bringing luck and peace for the people,"
he explained.
He added that Long Chu, which means "royal
barge", is a bamboo dragon covered with
coloured paper. It is a festival that concentrates
on warding off ghosts and evil from the villages.
The Long Chu, which is one-metre long, is set
on a small boat or a raft along with boiled pig
head, chicken, fruits, votive tablets and paper.
"The offerings will float on the river after the
worship service is over. People believe that bad
luck and evil will go way with offerings and
their lives would go on in peace," Vinh added.
The festival is considered to be a religious
firewall which keeps epidemics away from the
village, as well as a religious precaution against
all these ailments.
An important part of the rituals is the casting of
magic spells on 'ghosts' that carry these
ailments. These ghosts are then cast into the
river, to be discarded later in the sea. The local
people will also hold parades and processions
after these rituals.
The community finally gathers to share a
common meal and enjoy the procession,
carrying offerings from the communal house to
the sea.
The festival is often held on the 14th and 15th
day of the lunar month, which this year fall on
February 13 and 14.
Nguyen Viet Ly, 68, a resident living in the old
quarter, said the local people also make
offerings for the Cham people who were the
original founders of the land.
"A feast of boiled sweet potato buds, salted fish,
maize, rice, salt, and votive paper is set in trays
to be displayed outdoors. The Cham people were
the founders of Hoi An, while fishing and
weaving were their major trades," Ly said.
"The local people often offer food that the Cham
had in the earlier centuries. Offerings are made
to pay respect and express gratitude to the
founders of the land," he explained, adding that
the offerings also reflect the local culture in the
17th century.
Highlight of the year: Nguyen Tieu is the biggest
festival of the year after Tet (lunar New Year),
when people wish for a good start to the year.
Calligrapher Nhan said rice, salt and maize are
then scattered on the ground because the people
believe that the soul will receive food, money
and clothes in the world beyond.
"We feel the dead also need things like the living
do. They are wandering souls and may get
hungry or run out of money. It's in the good
nature of the Vietnamese people to help and
share the difficulties of the other people in the
community," he said.
Lanterns and candlelight
As usual, on the 14th and 15th days of a lunar
month, the people in Hoi An city light up their
houses, restaurants and streets with lanterns.
It has been an attraction for tourists since the
city was recognised as world heritage by
UNESCO in 2003.
"The full-moon night every month draws
tourists to Hoi An. The Hoai River twinkles with
the soft light of lanterns, while thousands of
candlelit paper flowers float across the water at
night. Tourists can share the traditional festival
with the locals. There is no difference between
them," said the city's vice-mayor Truong Van
Bay.
"There's no noise of power-driven vehicles;
there are only pedestrians and bicycles in the
old streets and river banks. The Nguyen Tieu
Festival highlights the monthly cultural
performances in the tourism hub and the
peaceful city," he said, adding tourists have
named the full-moon night of lantern
decorations as the magic night or Hoi An
Lantern Festival.
The vice mayor said preserving the town's
heritage, such as its history of being a former
trading port and a meeting place of generations
of Japanese and Chinese merchants and cargo
ships from Europe, is important."
Soft light: Lanterns are one of the most
attractive features of Hoi An. The light of
lanterns brightens up the UNESCO-recognised
world heritage city when electric lights in
houses, restaurants and streets are switched off
during the Full-Moon Day every lunar month.
— VNA/VNS Photo Hong Cuong
Calligrapher Nhan said Hoi An residents and
visitors often release candlelit paper flowers on
the Hoai River on the 14th night of the lunar
month.
"Each candlelit paper flower is a message that
the people want to express their thanks to the
ancestors and founders of the land. It is also a
prayer for the dead and peace for the living," he
said.
Hoi An has harmony within communities just as
it was in the past centuries. "The city is still
home to 1,000 ethnic Chinese and the Japanese
community along with the local people and
residents from different provinces and cities in
Viet Nam. A mixed community still a feature of
its society as it was 400 years ago," Vinh, who
manages festival activities in the city, said.
He said that on the 16th day of the first lunar
month, the city's spring festive season continues
when the ethnic Chinese in Hue, Da Nang and
Quang Ngai gather at Fujian and Jiao Zhou clubs
to make offerings to ancestors and celebrate the
Lunar New Year.
"The first lunar month is the time for exciting
festivities. At night, the local people and tourists
walk in dazzling bright streets, rush into
pagodas or temples and participate in the
festival," Vinh said.
He said the festival is introduced as a cultural
tradition to visitors.
Japanese Hirukawa Yuki, who opened a
souvenir shop in Hoi An two years ago, said she
participates in almost all festival activities.
"I share the exciting atmosphere and festivities
in the ancient town. Lanterns light up every
corner and I also hang up lanterns to decorate
my shop," Yuki said.
"I have joined two Tet (Lunar New Year)
festivals in Hoi An. The first lunar month of the
year actually turned Hoi An colourful with
lanterns and festivities," she said.
"I'm not alone here. I joined a group of at least
20 Japanese expats in the town for a cross-
cultural meet between the Japanese community
and the locals," she added.
The 31-year-old said her favourite part of the
Nguyen Tieu festival is when she is with friends
in the light of lanterns and amid the friendly
smiles of the local people and tourists.
Nhan said he would float a candlelit paper
flower on the Hoai River as he has been doing
for decades.
"There's peace always in my mind whenever I
float a candlelit flower on the river. It's also a
message of our people living in Hoi An. We
have been living in peace with the other
communities since the town started off as a busy
port 400 years ago," he said.
"I wish a year of prosperity for all my family
members, friends and all people."