tailieunhanh - A number of trends in Folk festival celebration today

Traditional customs and festivals have emerged to be a crucial part in Vietnam’s modern life recently. The author investigates the trends of folk festivals from the perspectives of cultural studies, namely the strong restoration to promote them for tourism development, their secularisation, as well as the promotion of international exchange in the festivals, and their governmentalisation/ officialisation. Diversity and complexity are increasing amidst activities of religious beliefs and folk festivals in the contemporary society. The clear identification of the issues is essential to creating a scientific basis for debates, opinions and policies of a more relevant nature. | A Number of Trends in Folk Festival Celebration Today Nguyen Thi Phuong Cham1 1 Institute of Cultural Studies, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences. Email: ngphuongcham@ Received: Nov., 16, 2016. Accepted: Dec., 10, 2016. Abstract: Traditional customs and festivals have emerged to be a crucial part in Vietnam’s modern life recently. The author investigates the trends of folk festivals from the perspectives of cultural studies, namely the strong restoration to promote them for tourism development, their secularisation, as well as the promotion of international exchange in the festivals, and their governmentalisation/ officialisation. Diversity and complexity are increasing amidst activities of religious beliefs and folk festivals in the contemporary society. The clear identification of the issues is essential to creating a scientific basis for debates, opinions and policies of a more relevant nature. Keywords: Folk festival, trend, restoration, secularisation, governmentalisation/officialisation. 1. Introduction Perhaps never before in Vietnam have festivals been mushrooming as they are now and the term “lễ hội” (festival) mentioned so much in the mass media, studies, workshops, roundtables and among the people. That fact depicts a multi-colour picture of festivals in the contemporary Vietnamese society. Like many other cultural phenomena, folk festivals have undergone numerous ups and downs along with the country’s history. Some were once fading away, altered, modified in forms and contents, and others even discontinued. Yet the past two decades have witnessed such an effervescent return of many folk festivals that, when speaking about Vietnam’s contemporary cultural life, one cannot miss them. 72 “Lễ hội dân gian” (Folk festival) is a term denoting festivals held by the masses, the most popular of which are village festivals held by villagers to satisfy the need for their own observations of cultural traditions, religious beliefs and rituals. .