Numerous visitors flock to love duet singing festival

Thousands of people from different localities across Vietnam have flocked to Tien Du district in northern Bac Ninh province to attend the Lim festival which is dedicated to Quan Ho (love duet singing), part of the world’s intangible cultural heritage.
Thousands of people from different localities across Vietnam haveflocked to Tien Du district in northern Bac Ninh province to attend theLim festival which is dedicated to Quan Ho (love duet singing), part ofthe world’s intangible cultural heritage.

The annual festival, which takes place on the 12th and 13th days ofthe Lunar New Year, which fell on March 2-3, is held on Lim Hill whereLim Pagoda is located. The pagoda is dedicated to Hieu Trung Hau, whoinvented Quan Ho.

According to the story told by localresidents, Hieu Trung Hau , who lived in 18th century, was born inNoi Due Village and made many great merits for his hometown. He was alsothe person who founded Lim Festival, which was originally CommuneFestival held yearly in the eighth lunar month. Therefore,incense-offering liturgy expresses gratitude and respect of the localsto him, and is also an occasion to remember the origin of Lim Festivalas well.

Besides Quan Ho singing , Lim Festivalis also space for various folk games such as bamboo swinging,traditional wrestling, earthenware pot breaking and human chess.

Love duet singing, which was inscribed in UNESCO’s intangiblecultural heritage of humanity list in September 2009, is an art formcombining various elements, including music, lyrics, costume and aunique style of singing the reflects the close relationship betweensingers. Performances of love duet songs are made by “lien anh”(brothers) and “lien chi” (sisters), who are ordinary people hailingfrom different villages.

The rich and diverse tunes and finelyrics of the songs portray the zest for life and distinctive culturalfeatures of people in the region formerly called Kinh Bac.-VNA

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