Hang Pinh's Appointment

Nung Phan Slinh Hua Lai ethnic people sing Sli in Hang Pinh festival

Lang Son is known as a land of cultural heritage with many unique traditional festivals, including the Hang Pinh festival. This is a true festival, without the ceremony but only the festival, festival-goers can immerse themselves in the melodious Sli songs, admire the costumes of ethnic groups and enjoy traditional baked cakes. Gradually, the festival has become a community cultural activity imbued with the identity of Lang Son residents.

Unique moon cake market

According to the Tay and Nung ethnic languages, “Hang” means market, “Pinh” means baked cake. This is a market to buy baked cakes on the occasion of the Mid-Autumn Festival of the Tay and Nung ethnic groups in Lang Son. According to tradition, every year on the 12th day of the 8th lunar month, the Tay and Nung people in particular and the people in the province as well as tourists from near and far come to Ky Lua market (Ky Lua ward) to enjoy the Hang Pinh festival. Previously, Ky Lua market was organized simply with simple stalls, around the market were horizontal and vertical paths, on both sides of the road were rows of green trees, visitors from all over came to the market to shop, eat and drink and sit together along the two sides of the road or next to the shops, or sit right in the market to sing sli, sing luon.

In recent years, along with the development of the socio- economy , Ky Lua market has been re-planned, the shops have been restructured, the space for people to sing sli and luon has gradually narrowed, the space for singing sli and luon in Ky Lua market street is no longer suitable, so the Tay and Nung ethnic people have come to the Monument Campus of Comrade Hoang Van Thu and the Provincial Museum in Luong Van Tri ward.

People experience making moon cakes at the Provincial Museum within the framework of the Hang Pinh Festival in 2024

Ms. Vi Thi Quynh Ngoc, an officer of the Provincial Museum, who has devoted many years of dedicated research on the Hang Pinh Festival, said: The Hang Pinh Festival is considered a "living museum" that fully preserves the customs and practices of the Tay and Nung people. Here, each folk song, each folk game, each culinary dish contains the soul of indigenous culture. If sli and luon singing are a sophisticated means of love communication, traditional costumes are the aesthetic beauty, reflecting the concept of living in harmony with nature of the mountain residents.

One of the typical highlights of the Hang Pinh festival is the groups of Nung men and women of many ages singing sli. Sli in Nung means "poetry", Sli singing is a form of love singing expressed through verses, performed in the form of dialogue between male and female couples. Usually, Sli has 3 basic singing styles: spoken singing (reading poetry), chanting Sli (reciting poetry) and dam Sli or nam Sli (raising voice to sing). In Lang Son, currently, the Nung ethnic group has 4 main groups, of which Nung Chao has Sli Slinh Lang; Nung Phan Slinh has Sli Sloong Hao; Nung An has Heo Phun singing... In 2019, Sli singing of the Nung people in Lang Son province was included in the list of National Intangible Cultural Heritage according to Decision No. 2966 of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (VHTT&DL).

Mr. Phung Van Muon, Chairman of the Provincial Folk Song Preservation Association, said: In the past, due to many objective factors, there was a period when the Hang Pinh festival lacked sli singing, but since 2010, when the Provincial Folk Song Preservation Association was established, the sli singing movement at the festival has gradually been restored. At the Hang Pinh festival, the Nung people often divide into groups of both men and women to sing, the sli songs have content such as greeting each other; asking about the situation of production and daily life; praising the homeland... Thanks to the sli singing at the Hang Pinh festival, many people have become husband and wife.

Spread the value of the festival

In the context of integration and development, preserving cultural identity becomes more urgent. Hang Pinh is not only a festival for fun, but also a spiritual heritage, a link connecting the past - present - future. Therefore, in recent years, the organization, management and preservation of Hang Pinh festival have received attention and focus from all levels and sectors.

Mr. Luu Ba Mac, Deputy Director of the Provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said: Imbued with the viewpoint of the Party and State "Culture is the soul of the nation, as long as culture exists, the nation exists...", in recent years, we have strengthened state management, promoted activities to preserve and promote the value of traditional cultural heritage, closely linked culture with tourism development, contributing to building Lang Son into an attractive and colorful destination. In particular, since 2023, we have assigned the Provincial Museum to implement a plan to preserve and promote the cultural values of the traditional Hang Pinh festival, focusing on research, surveying, and evaluating the results of the work to preserve and promote the cultural values of the festival, thereby forming a typical tourism product of Lang Son.

Accordingly, from 2023 to present, the Provincial Museum has promoted the creation of videos and short news articles to promote and introduce the content, meaning and value of the festival through electronic information pages and social networks. At the same time, it recreated the stalls at the old Ky Lua market; invited artisans to demonstrate models and processes of making traditional cakes; invited visitors to experience making cakes, enjoy products and special culinary dishes of Lang Son...

Thanks to that, in recent years, in addition to sli and luon singers, the number of tourists coming to the festival has increased. Many young people from Hanoi, Bac Ninh, Thai Nguyen also come and experience the unique activities of the Hang Pinh Festival. Most of the tourists were impressed and attracted by the honesty and simplicity of the people here, which left an unforgettable impression.

Ms. Nguyen Thu Phuong, a tourist from Hanoi, shared: Through research on the internet, I learned that on the occasion of the Mid-Autumn Festival in Lang Son, there is a traditional Hang Pinh festival with many attractive activities. On the occasion of the 2024 festival, some friends and I went to Lang Son to experience it in person, and I was extremely impressed. I got to enjoy traditional moon cakes, listen to typical sli songs, and experience wearing traditional Nung costumes...

In order to preserve and promote the unique values of the Hang Pinh festival associated with tourism development, in 2025, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism will continue to assign the Provincial Museum to organize the festival.

Mr. Nong Duc Kien, Director of the Provincial Museum, said: This year, the festival continues to be held at the Provincial Museum and the Hoang Van Thu monument in Luong Van Tri ward with many attractive activities such as: folk games of Lay Co, walking on stilts, lion dance, martial arts performances; art exchange of Then, Sli, Luon singing; reenactment of the cultural space of Ky Lua market, display of some famous brands of baked cakes of Lang Son; artisans demonstrating the process of making traditional baked cakes and experiencing making moon cakes, performing culinary introductions, visiting and experiencing making lion heads and star lanterns... Up to now, the museum has completed the preparation of thatched-roof booths in the traditional style of the ancient Ky Lua market. At the same time, billboards and slogans inside and outside the museum grounds about the festival are decorated, ready for the opening of the festival taking place on the 12th day of the 8th lunar month (October 3, 2025).

Through the activities taking place at the Hang Pinh festival, it is aimed at creating a joyful and exciting atmosphere, encouraging all classes of people to actively respond to patriotic emulation movements, enthusiastically compete in studying, working and producing, contributing to the implementation of the province's socio-economic goals, determined to successfully implement the Resolution of the 18th Provincial Party Congress.

With the continuous efforts in recreating the cultural space of the ancient Ky Lua market, organizing attractive experiential activities and the dedication of artisans and museum staff, we believe that the Hang Pinh Festival will be increasingly spread widely, becoming an indispensable highlight on the map of Vietnam's cultural heritage. Then every year, when autumn comes, visitors will remember the Hang Pinh invitation and return to the land of Lang Son, the headland of the Fatherland.

Source: https://baolangson.vn/loi-ho-hen-hang-pinh-5060481.html