Opening of Lang Son Provincial Chau Van Performance Festival Open 2025

On the morning of February 22nd (i.e., the 25th day of the first lunar month), at the Cua Dong Temple National Relic, Chi Lang ward, Lang Son city, the Organizing Committee of the Peach Blossom Festival and activities to congratulate the Party and celebrate the New Year of the Snake organized the opening ceremony of the Lang Son Provincial Chau Van Performance Festival Open 2025.

The opening ceremony was attended by representatives of several departments, boards, sectors of the province; Lang Son city; caretakers and heads of Management Boards of several relics in Lang Son city; artisans and spirit mediums participating in performances at the festival, along with a large number of people and visitors from all over the country.

Chau Van is a traditional vocal art form, associated with the spirit mediumship ritual in the practice of Mother Goddess worship of the Three Realms (an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity recognized by UNESCO in 2016) and the worship of Saint Tran (Tran Hung Dao) of the Vietnamese people. Chau Van singing has many forms of performance, including worship singing, competition singing, and singing to serve. Chau Van uses many different poetic forms such as: seven-word poetry, seven-word couplets and six-eight word verse, freestyle singing... The lyrics of Chau Van often praise merits and tell the stories of the saints.

In Lang Son, according to historical documents, Chau Van, along with Mother Goddess worship, has been present in Lang Son since around the late 19th - early 20th centuries. As soon as it presented, it had strong exchanges and receptions with indigenous folk beliefs, and to this day, it has deeply penetrated the spiritual cultural life of the majority of the people of Xu Lang, especially in the Lang Son Geopark area.

The Lang Son Province Chau Van Performance Festival Open2025 is held for 2 days, February 22nd and 23rd (the 25th and 26th days of the first lunar month, the year of the Snake), with the participation of 31 artisans and spirit mediums from 10 provinces and cities, including Lang Son province. At the festival, each artisan and spirit medium participates in performing 3 sections of hau dong (Serving the Holy Reflections) ceremonies.

The organization of this activity aims to honor the cultural heritage of Mother Goddess worship, revive cultural traditions, raise awareness of preserving and promoting the quintessential values of Chau Van performing arts, and is an opportunity to bring this art form closer to the public. This is also one of the contents in the series of events of the Peach Blossom Festival and activities to congratulate the Party and celebrate the New Year of the Snake 2025.