Sen Village Song and Festival - Ho Chi Minh Cultural Festival

Sen Village Song and Festival - Ho Chi Minh Cultural Festival

Folk Arts Festival entitled: Sen Village Song

The festival was first organised in 1982 with the participation of art troupes from Nghe An, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The festival was initially called “National songs for Uncle Ho”. From the second festival (1983), it became known as “Sen village song, “Sen village song festival”. The celebration is organised on alternate years by the province and the Ministry of Culture and Nghe An People’s Committee. The venue is in either Sen village or in Vinh city close to the relics. As Sen village is quite small, big festivals take place in Vinh city with the opening ceremony held in the village.

Sen Village Song Festival is organised by the province from May 1 to 19. It has become a popular movement in the province. The topic of praise extends from President Ho to the Party and the homeland.

The Ministry of Culture and Information together with Nghe An People’s Committee organise the National Sen Village Song Festival. In early festivals, the participants included only troupes from provinces that President Ho had visited such has Hanoi, Haiphong, Cao Bang, Ha Tay, Hue, and Ho Chi Minh city. Later on, other provinces also asked to be allowed to participate increasing the number of entrants to 35-40 art troupes. The festival has become a pilgrimage to the native land of President Ho with an increasing number of participants and cultural performances each year.

Sen Village Song becomes Sen Village Festival

Ministry of Culture and Nghe An People’s Committee have organised a conference reviewing 20 years of festivals (1982-2001). At the conference, all participants agreed to upgrade Sen Village Song Festival into Sen Village Festival with diversified cultural activities, sports and tourism. In fact, the activities have increased year after year : exhibitions, seminars, Sen village beauty contest,  parade, kite flying,  and pigeon flying competition are now on the list of activities, and in 2002 it become a festival with two parts : ceremony and festivity.

The ceremony consists of a presentation of incense and flowers, a speech in honour of President Ho, a torch parade with a delegation from Nam Dan district carrying President Ho’s portrait, flags and flowers and delegations from other districts and provinces.

The festivity includes Nghe Tinh folk song competition, exhibitions, kite flying, sport events and tourism. In 2005, on the occasion of the 115^th birthday of President Ho Chi Minh which coincides with Nghe An tourism year, the festival will be organised with more events of high artistic value attracting more visitors to Sen village and Nghe An province. New activities include cultural performances of various nationalities, a seminar on development of Ho Chi Minh’s cultural heritage, exhibitions of books, posters, and children’s paintings. In 2005, the Ministry of Culture will decide on the logo and traditional song for the Sen village festival. The festival will be more attractive than previous years with additional projects highlighting local history and culture.

Ho Chi Minh cultural festival

Due to its success in recent years, the Sen Village Festival may be soon be renamed the Ho Chi Minh cultural festival in honour of President Ho Chi Minh, a hero of national liberation, and father of the nation.

However, presently, Sen village festival must be perfected and a review conference and seminar must be organised for that purpose. Hopefully, the Ho Chi Minh cultural festival will soon become a reality.

Ho Huu Thoi

Director of Nghe An Culture and Information Department