The sound of festival drums echoes through the streets.

Reenacting the traditional folk singing performance in Hoi An ancient town on New Year's Eve. Photo: Spain.

Teacher Pham Thuc Hong (Hoi An) explained that the old way of referring to the four consecutive "key months of village festivals" was to call the 11th lunar month "one," the 12th month "December," and the first two months of the year "January and February." Accordingly, village festivals, year-end and year-end ceremonies, and traditional customs progressed according to this rhythm.

A traditional village drum in the city...

Teacher Hong described the sound of the festival drums in his hometown as very unique. In the old days, people were accustomed to the sound of drums because it was the only sound that announced to the community what was happening.

There used to be a whole system of drum-beating conventions in villages, so that people could almost instantly recognize when they heard the drums being beaten.

The rapid, five-beat drumbeats signal danger, indicating a house fire, a dike breach, or enemy invasion. Three strong, decisive drumbeats, followed by a louder, more forceful beat, announce a major event or a significant ceremony. The slow, rhythmic drumbeats, called the watch drums, remind people of ongoing tasks, ceremonies, or village activities.

In some places, during festivals and religious ceremonies, drums are beaten in a majestic three-part drumming ritual, with up to 300 beats in total: 80 in the first, 100 in the middle, and 120 in the final…

Mr. Tran Ngoc Vinh (Nam O, Lien Chieu, Da Nang ) spoke of the sound of the village festival drums, a series of sounds that have never been absent from his life. This year, 2025, he won't be directly involved in organizing the spring festival, but whenever the drums sound, he'll go to the communal house.

A village of people from Quang Nam province in Ho Chi Minh City holds a New Year's worship ceremony. Photo: BN

He shared: “The full moon of the second lunar month is the village's New Year's offering, the welcoming of the deity, the welcoming of the new fishing season, the launching of boats to the sea, and the asking for blessings from the ancestors. Fishing villages worship the water god, farming villages worship the land god, and highland villages worship the mountain god; that's a custom, and everyone just follows it.” Now that it's February, the road to Nam O village always resounds with the sound of festival drums, as if marking the eager footsteps of those welcoming the arrival.

Mr. Vinh "revealed" that, in the emotions of those who have passed away, the sound of the village festival drums evokes memories of their youth, full of emotion. Any young man chosen by the village to play the drums, if he is talented and strong, will be favored by the village girls. Therefore, whenever there is a festival, the village boys all want to hold the drumsticks and beat the rhythm.

So many young men and women have found love and formed couples since such drum festivals, and indeed, the excitement in their eyes and hearts makes even the gray-haired and wrinkled-skinned suddenly smile like children…

Let's relive the festivities of the past?

According to researcher Tran Doan Lam ( Hanoi ), during the recent Lunar New Year of the Year of the Snake, the Hanoi Old Quarter management board recreated the traditional New Year celebration with events such as erecting and taking down the New Year pole, procession, and drumming.

The fishing village of Nam O (Da Nang) resounds with the sounds of gongs and drums during the full moon of the second lunar month. Photo: BN

The old villages, once famous in the Thang Long region, were once again named and sent representatives to participate in the rituals to worship heaven and earth. The New Year's festival of the old town thus also became a village festival, reminding today's younger generations of the stories of the past, and providing an occasion for the resounding sound of village drums to echo throughout the urban streets.

Teacher Pham Thuc Hong shared that, in the Ngu Phung Te Phi region, the spirit of the old festival is being revived and celebrated by many wards and communes, and the sound of the village festival drums is now being talked about again.

Most recently, he was one of the judges at a calligraphy competition held during the spring festival in Tam Ky, evoking the image of an old village in the heart of the city. Dozens of "contestants" in makeshift tents diligently wrote, to the resounding beat of drums urging them on. "It made me feel like I was back in the old days, when, no matter how difficult or arduous the times were, we still honored calligraphy within our family and brought glory to our village," the elderly teacher fondly recounted.

Clearly, across generations, the sound of village festival drums, associated with commemorative years and the milestones of "the 12th and 12th of the lunar month," always resonates with both crispness and depth. It's not just a memory, not just a recollection of a bygone era, but also a question posed in the face of today's bustling changes.

Mr. Tran Ngoc Vinh observed that his Nam O fishing village, despite years of economic changes, including firecracker making and fish sauce production, has never once lost the familiar sound of the festival drums.

The drums announce the Lunar New Year, the ancestral commemoration, the Lantern Festival, the February fishing season, and the April fish sauce harvest… The whole village follows the schedule of the tides, the boats, and the fragrant jars of fish sauce, marked by the solemn yet familiar sounds of the festival drums, shaping the lives of each family as each day and month passes.

"Without the drums of the New Year's festival, we old folks might forget how we live, and the younger generation would be even more indifferent. So, if we can recreate those spiritual and cultural values, preserving old customs and traditions within a new, more modern lifestyle that is still orderly and respectful, everyone's life will be much better," shared Mr. Tran Ngoc Vinh.

An old fisherman thought so, but a teacher with a brush pen like Mr. Pham Thuc Hong, and the researcher of village temple culture Tran Doan Lam, turned out to think the same. The crisp, resonant sound of ancient drums, heard every spring during festivals, is it worth a few words of reflection before the hustle and bustle of city life?

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/vang-tieng-trong-hoi-giua-pho-3150127.html