Festival honours plough work

The Tich Dien (Ploughing the Rice Field) Festival will be held in the northern province of Ha Nam from February 18-20. The event marks a spring day in the 10th century when King Le Dai Hanh ploughed a field in order to motivate farming.
The festival originates from AD 987. To celebrate Tet (Lunar New Year), King Le Dai Hanh decided to plough a field in Doi Son Commune of Duy Tien District, Ha Nam Province. Following kings maintained the tradition in early spring, to encourage the people to work and pray for a prosperous year, but the tradition died out.
However, last year, the festival was restored with the aim of recounting an old story and promoting work in agriculture, rural areas and farmers.
One hundred female drummers will open the festival, then representatives of the State and provincial authorities will take the stage to worship the spirit of agriculture and to pray for a bumper harvest, according to Tran Quoc Hung, director of the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
In the sacred atmosphere, full of fragrant incense, an elder representing the local people will assume the role of King Le Dai Hanh. He and the most beautiful buffalo will plough vigorously. Following the king, State leaders will plough three furrows to open the festival, provincial leaders wearing brown shirts will plough five furrows and local representatives will plough seven furrows.
The organising committee has selected 30 strong buffaloe to train and decorate for the festival.
Painters from all over the country, and even foreign painters from the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand have been invited to participate in the decorating contest. They will use water colours to decorate the buffalo. The decorative patterns will vary, depending on the painters' inspiration, from dragons to phoenixes, to regular images, such as peach blossom, kites, traffic signs and abstract work which will cover the buffalo from head to tail.
This year, many events will be held around the time of the festival including the buffalo-decorating contest, a cheo (traditional drama) performance, a martial arts competition and a lion dance.
Provincial leaders hope the festival will become an annual event and that it will be eventually upgraded to a national-level affair.
By attending the Tich Dien Festival, people will have the opportunity to recall the merits of their ancestors and to learn about an old story as well. Moreover they will see the farmers' enthusiasm and diligence at first hand.