Fest offers love duets cockfighting and more

The cold couldn't keep away the thousands of tourists who arrived for the annual Lim Festival, dedicated to quan ho (love duets) folk singing, which opened yesterday morning in the northern province of Bac Ninh.
Quan ho singers are one of the highlights of the Lim festival.The one-day festival, where takes place on the 13th day of the first lunar month, was held this year on Lim Hill in Tien Du District, 30km north of Hanoi, embracing quan ho singing, processions and folk games.
However, two days before the festival had officially opened, many tourists and pilgrims had flocked to the grounds to visit and pray for a prosperous and happy new year in the local pagodas and to purchase goods at the local markets, such as folk paintings, calligraphy works, bonsai trees and more.
Like other religious festivals, the Lim Festival goes through all the ritual stages, from the procession to the worship ceremony. Tourists had the enhance to experience the sacred and colourful environment when the festival began with a procession from Noi Due Village to Lim hill, and then with worshipping ceremonies at the Hong Van imperial tomb and Hong An Pagoda on the Lim hill.
Sweet songs
The Lim Festival has always been celebrated through many traditional games, such as swinging, human chess, wrestling, cock fighting and even a rice-cooking competition. But the quan ho folk song performances remain the most striking feature of the festival.
Quan ho singers from 26 villages sang songs about love and desire while atop the hills, indoors or floating along the village waterways.
Female singers wore colourful tu than (four-lapped dresses), while the men donned traditional costumes of their own.
Originating in Bac Ninh Province 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.
The quan ho style of singing is currently being reviewed by UNESCO for consideration as a Humanitarian Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage.
The duet partners meet on the open hill. Groups of friends pass each other and the boys reach out to the girls, asking them to taste their betel leaves. If the girl accepts, it means she will sing with him.
In some cases, boys carry umbrellas while girls carry large palm hats with silk bands. They are all dressed in festival costumes specific to the region.
The festival ends only when darkness has engulfed the entire hill, and ritual songs are sung to wrap up the festival. Often the closing ceremony lasts for several songs, while people slowly begin to leave, one by one.
The Lim Festival is a special cultural activity in the North celebrating a unique folk singing style which has become a part of the national culture and well-loved within the Hong (Red) River Delta.
(Source: Viet Nam News)