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(01-03-2007)
Thousands of people are expected to flock to the northern province of Bac Ninh today to revel in the Lim festival, the region’s largest celebration of the year.
The one-day festival, which takes place on the13th day of the first lunar month which falls on March 1 this year on Lim Hill, 30km north of Ha Noi, embraces quan ho singing, processions and folk games.
Quan ho singers from 26 villages will sing songs about love and desire at four camps on the hill. Female singers will wear colourful tu than (four-lapped dress) while men will don their own traditional costumes.
Three days before the Lim festival the province’s Culture and Information Department hosted a quan ho singing contest to choose the best singers to perform on the festival’s centre stage. The competition drew more than 100 amateur and professional vocalists.
Originating in Bac Ninh around the 13th century, quan ho is an antiphonal singing tradition in which men and women take turns singing in a call and response pattern.
According to the director of the Lim festival’s steering committee, Nguyen Minh Hai, there are more folk games planned than previous festivals. Apart from familiar games such as freestyle wrestling and cock fighting, festival goers can enjoy writing by young calligraphers from Ha Noi and take part in tug of war, a rice-cooking contest, human chess and blind-man’s buff.
This year modern games and food stalls will be barred from the festival centre and the main road leading to Lim Hill. — VNS