On the morning of 1st January 2024, at Ngo Mon Square, artists from Hue Theatre of Traditional and Royal Art performed a special art program on the occasion of Thua Thien - Hue province holding the announcement ceremony of Hue Festival 2024 and Theatrical performance of the Calendar Delivery Ceremony of the Nguyen Dynasty.
Hue Festival, with the theme "Cultural heritage with integration and development" has contributed to the good implementation of Resolution No. 54 of the Politburo, striving for Thua Thien Hue to soon become a city directly under the Central Government, a Festival City, a unique cultural, educational, tourism and medical center of the region based on the fundamental values of cultural heritage and the proactive and creative spirit of the people of the ancient land.
Mr. Hoang Viet Trung - Director of Hue Monuments Conservation Centre said that Hue Festival 2024 with the theme "Cultural Heritage with Integration and Development "would organize continuous activities throughout the year . The Festival will be opened with the theatrical performance of the Calendar Delivery Ceremony during the Nguyen Dynasty (January 1st, 2024) and ended with the Countdown Program (December 31st, 2023). The highlight will be Hue Festival Week 2024 taking place from June 7th to 12th, 2024.
The Calendar Delivery Ceremony of the Nguyen Dynasty was held periodically at the end of the lunar year. Ancient Vietnamese people considered agricultural economy very important. Therefore, calendar had special meaning in human life. Calendar helped people know about weather changes so that they could deal with natural disasters.
Every year, after the Kham Thien Giam office finished compiling the calendar, the court held the Calendar Delivery ceremony under the direction of officials from the Ministry of Rites and Kham Thien Giam. The calendar was brought into the Royal Palace for the Royal Family to use. After that, calendar was also given to mandarins in the Citadel and localities as well as the people .
The ceremony was originally held at Thai Hoa palace yard. In 1840, for the first time, the Calendar Delivery Ceremony was decreed by Emperor Minh Mang to be performed at Ngo Mon. Since 2020, this ceremony has been annually theatrially performed by artists from Hue Theatre of Traditional and Royal Art (Hue Monuments Conservation Centre) based on ancient rituals.