Teacher Pham Thuc Hong (Hoi An) explained that the ancients' abbreviation for the four consecutive months of "village festival highlights" is that the 11th lunar month is called "one", the 12th month is called "December", and the first two months of the year are called "January two". Accordingly, village festivals, year-end and year-beginning ceremonies, and traditional customs follow this rhythm.
Country drum in the middle of the city…
Teacher Hong described that the sound of the festival drum in the countryside was very strange. In the past, people were used to the sound of the drum because it was the only sound that informed the community of what was happening.
There was a whole system of drum beats in the village in the past, which people knew almost immediately when they heard the drums being beaten.
The rapid five-beat drum beats (beating 5 times continuously) signal an emergency, a house fire, a broken dike, or the appearance of a bandit. The drum beats three times strongly, ending with a stronger beat, signal an important event, a formality taking place. The drum beats each beat slowly, called the watch drum, reminding people of the work being done, the ceremony being held, or the continuation of village activities...
In some places, during festivals and worship, there is also the beating of drums, with three majestic drum beats of up to 300 beats, the first beat 80, the middle beat 100 and the last beat 120...
Mr. Tran Ngoc Vinh (Nam O, Lien Chieu, Da Nang ) talks about the sound of the village festival drum, like a series of sounds that are never absent in his life. In 2025, he is not directly in charge of the spring festival, but when the drum sounds, he goes to the temple.
He shared: “The full moon of February is the village’s first worship of the year, the Whale welcoming ceremony, welcoming the new fish season, setting sail, and asking for blessings from the ancestors. The fishing village worships the water god, the farming village worships the land god, the highland village worships the mountain god, that is the custom, everyone just follows it.” Now it is February, the road to Nam O village always resounds with the sound of festival drums, like a welcome greeting.
Mr. Vinh “revealed”, in fact, in the feelings of those who “have passed away”, the sound of the village festival drum still reminds them of their youthful past, full of emotions. Any guy who is trusted by the village to beat the drum, who is talented and healthy, will be the favored target in the eyes of the village girls. Therefore, whenever there is a festival, the village boys all want to hold the drumstick and beat the rhythm.
How many men and women have become couples since the festival drums, so truly, there is so much excitement in the eyes and hearts that makes the gray-haired and freckled people suddenly smile like children...
Together to celebrate the old days?
Researcher Tran Doan Lam ( Hanoi ) said that on the occasion of the recent Tet At Ty, the management board of Hanoi's Old Quarter recreated the space to celebrate Tet in the past according to traditional customs, with events such as raising and lowering the flagpole, carrying the citadel, and beating the festival drums.
The old villages that were once famous in Thang Long were named and sent village representatives to participate in the ceremony to inform heaven and earth. The old town's Tet festival, which is also a village festival, reminds today's young generations of the old stories, and is an occasion for the sound of village drums to resound throughout the urban streets.
Teacher Pham Thuc Hong shared that in the land of Ngu Phung Te Phi, the old festival atmosphere is also being cared for and recreated by many wards and communes, and the sound of the village festival drums is now mentioned again.
Most recently, he was one of the judges for a spring writing contest in Tam Ky, evoking the image of an ancient village in the heart of the city. Dozens of “contestants” were busy writing, with the sound of drums urging them on, “making me feel like I was back in the old days, when no matter how difficult or hard it was, the family lineage was honored with letters and the village was glorious,” the old teacher fondly recounted.
Clearly, in the generations that are passing by, the sound of the village festival drum, associated with the years of memories, and the milestones of time “one twelfth, first, second”, always resounds loudly and deeply. It is not only a memory, not only a memory of a time, but also a question in the face of today’s bustling changes.
Mr. Tran Ngoc Vinh admitted that his Nam O fishing village has changed its economy over the years, making firecrackers and fish sauce, but the familiar sound of the festival drum has never once faded away.
The sound of drums reminds us of the New Year, the death anniversary of our ancestors, the New Year's Eve, the fishing month in February, the new fish sauce season in April... The whole village follows the schedule of the tide, the boats, the fragrant fish sauce jars, marked by the sound of festival drums, that solemnity, that intimacy, that each day and each month passes, shaping the life of each family.
“Without the sound of the drums at the beginning of the year, we old people might forget how we lived, and the young people would be even more indifferent. So if we can recreate those spiritual and cultural values, preserve the old customs in a new, more modern lifestyle but still with neat and orderly rituals, everyone’s life will be much better,” Mr. Tran Ngoc Vinh shared.
An old fisherman thought so, but a teacher who is familiar with writing brush like Mr. Pham Thuc Hong, a researcher of the culture of Tran Doan Lam communal house, also thought so. The crisp sound of the ancient drum, every spring, when festivals open, is it worth pondering a few lines before the hustle and bustle of the city?
Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/vang-tieng-trong-hoi-giua-pho-3150127.html
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