buffalo has been revived near the central city of Da Nang for the
first time in nearly 75 years.
The festival, at
Phong Le village in Hoa Vang district's Hoa Chau commune, gathered 400
locals on Nov. 27-28 with traditional worship customs and folk games as
well as performances of tuong (classical drama).
According to local Ngo Van Nghia, this was the first time the festival had been held since 1936.
"The festival not only praises the buffalo children but also
celebrates the solidarity of all the working people in the village and
wishes for a lucky harvest and wealth for everyone," Nghia said.
"The festival used to be held every three years," said researcher Van
Thu Bich from the Da Nang Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism who
was the head of the festival preservation team and vows that it has been
re-created exactly the same as the original.
"We
will now try our best to hold it every two years in order to preserve
the local intangible cultural heritage as well as create a tourism
product for tourists visiting Da Nang ."
For the
revived festival, the village was lit up on Nov. 27 with hundreds of
lanterns and models of agricultural tools hanging all over the village.
Early morning on Nov. 28, a procession of the 60 buffalo children
travelled around the fields of the village, calling out wishes for a
good harvest and creating a atmosphere full of cheer and loud laughter.
They then participated in folk games like tug-of-war and catching ducks
while blindfolded.
They were chosen from 17 clans in
the village to take the central roles in various ceremonies at the
festival, such as a procession bearing a likeness of the god of
agriculture from a holy islet in the village called Con Than to the
village's communal house.
Legend holds that ducks
were unable to move their feet off the land when they reached the islet,
so the locals were afraid to visit it. One day, a herd of buffalo
strayed to the islet and local buffaloes boys brought them back safely.
Since then, the islet has been a popular place for buffalo children in
the village to gather, and the legend became the centrepiece of a
special festival for the children./.
