Despite his young age, Le Van Hoan has 20 years of experience in preserving and performing rituals at traditional festivals - a type of belief that mostly sees the participation of senior citizens.

Le Van Hoan (left) is performing a ritual. (Photo courtesy of the character)

Hoan said that ritual is basically a religious rite featuring the combination of music and sacrificial offering. It is an indispensable rite in the ceremonial activities of the traditional festivals, aiming at honouring the merits of the deceased and reflecting the wishes of the living. Ritual is both an activity of folk beliefs and an orthodox rite of the court ritual system. The rite usually features drums, gongs, and music.

Hoan said he learned about the ritual-related knowledge from his great-grandfather and local elders. His great-grandfather was good at studying Confucianism, and often actively got involved in worshiping at the village communal house, translating genealogies, and writing tablets and offerings.

By participating in such traditional festivals, Hoan gradually nurtured a love for traditional beliefs. Since then, he was guided by his great-grandfather about Han - Nom characters (Chinese script and Vietnamese ideographical script) and folk songs.

At the age of 12, Hoan became a member of the team to offer offerings at rituals in the Hoa Vang District Martyrs' Cemetery and the Khue Trung Village Communal House.

With his available qualifications, he was taught ritual music by Mr. Tran Quang Chanh, a student of the late folk artist Tu Chau.

Currently, many people are familiar with the image of a young man wearing ancient clothes reading sacrifices with a clear, humongous voice and performing rituals in many festivals and worshiping activities all over the country.

As a rare young person involved in rituals, Hoan said he must learn about many things, including the arrangement of the altar table, and how to place vase and offering tray.

According to the 33-year-old man, the singing style and tone of voice for each ritual, how to arrange and prepare offerings, how to use words, address and deity each type of literature, and the postures of walking, standing, bowing and kneeling of the main worshipers must all be standard and accurate so that rituals are not lost or mixed up.

His great efforts are paid off as Hoan becomes a young artist who has participated in many rituals in many events, festivals and temples nationwide. Included are the Da Nang Martyrs' Sacrifice Ceremony and Khue Trung Village Festival in Cam Le District; a ceremony to commemorate heroic martyrs in Hoa Vang District; and Co Man, Nhon Hoa, Lo Giang, Go Thi village communal house festivals in Cam Le District; Mieu Bong, Con Mong, An Thoi, Phu Hoa village communal house festivals in Hoa Vang District; Quang Lang and Ha Dua village communal house festivals in Dien Ban Town, Quang Nam Province; and worshiping at the Trieu family church in Thanh Hoa Province.

Thanks to this, Hoan collected and compiled hundreds of literary texts, rituals and traditional rites.

Returning to his daily work, Le Van Hoan is still active in mass work and teaching. He is quite multi-talented when participating in screenwriting, writing propaganda skits, organizing scripts for events and folklore festivals, and acting as a MC for some events.

At the Da Nang FPT Polytechnic College, Hoan is well-known as a cheerful and dynamic lecturer who is willing to accompany and support students in school activities, especially cultural and traditional folk events.

The young man received the Golden Table of Typical Cultural Artists in 2020 at the 2020 Spring Welcome Gala by the Institute of Legal Policy and Management, the Institute of Culture and Development Research, and the Viet Nam Union of Science and Technology Associations.

Besides, he was honoured by the People's Committee of Khue Trung Ward, the People's Committee of Cam Le District and the Da Nang Youth Union for their active involvement in movements in the localities.

Before and after Tet, Hoan was busy with his teaching activities at school and countless festival activities. He is always thinking about a young generation that can inherit the job in the future.

Hoan cherishes to create an accurate document about rituals and share widely it among younger generations with the aim to prevent the job from disappearing in the future. For a young person like Hoan, it is a necessary and advisable thing to do to preserve the human values behind rituals.

Reporting by LE MAI - Translating by M.DUNG