As a form of performing arts, Xoan singing includes singing, dancing, drumming and clapper beating. It is closely attached to the Worship of the Hùng Kings, founders of the country. Phú Thọ people created Xoan singing and performed it at the village communal houses, temples and shrines worshipping the Hùng Kings in springs. “Xoan” means “spring”. Bearers and practitioners form four guilds, in which the male and female Trum play the most important role; they preserve the songs, select students, transmit the singing styles and repertoires and organize practices. They are also active in introducing and teaching Xoan singing at the four Xoan guilds, and in clubs and guilds. A full Xoan performance cycle includes 3 phases: Worship singing (Hát thờ) with songs praising the virtues of the Hùng Kings and the village guardian deities; Invocation for good health and fortune (Quả cách) with 14 repertoires praising nature, humankind, and the daily life of the community; Festive singing (hát Hội) with songs featuring the couple love. The special characteristic of Xoan is the modulation between singers and instrumentalists at the perfect fourth interval, and it has a simple structure with few ornamental notes. Xoan dance's movements have a sense of imitativeness, illustrating people's daily life activities. After singing at their communal houses from the 2nd - 5th day of the Lunar New Year, the Xoan guilds travel to other communities venerating Hùng Kings to take part in convivial cultural exchanges. Xoan practitioners are organized into music guilds called Phường. The Leader of each guild is called “Trùm”. In the past, only men could be “Trùm”, but nowadays women could also be leaders. The Leaders are in charge of transmission and organization of activities of the guilds. At present, each guild comprises of 30 - 100 members. Men are called “kép”, women are “đào”. As a community performing art, Xoan singing fosters cultural understanding, community cohesion and mutual respect. The Vietnamese Institute for Musicology has collected 31 Xoan songs, and thanks to the efforts of several Xoan artists four guilds have been established. 33 dedicated clubs also exist, and seminars are held to expand knowledge of Xoan.

Viet Nam 2017

Held from the 10th through the 15th days of the second lunar month, main foci of this festival are paying tribute to Guru Rinpoche and the performance of ritual prayers dedicated to Tshepamed (Buddha of Long Life) and local protective deities on the 10th and the 11th days. Events take place in community temples and are presided over by lamas and monks, and/or locally-based gomchens (Leymen). On the 12th to 15th days, games and sports are organized, especially archery and Khuru (Traditional dart) are played. At night, the Blessing Round or Changkor (Wandering) takes place as a presiding lama or monk leads a group to visit every household in their respective villages and bless them with auspiciousness. The community members drink, sing and dance, and relish good foods during the period. The festival is not only meant to pay tribute to Guru Rinpoche and the protective deities but is also an occasion for community members to get together to relax away from the usual toils of agrarian life. During Tala Chodpa, most of the villages conduct certain ritual prayers. Often the dagkey, or main ritual prayer, is either the Lama Norbu Jamtsho of Pema Lingpa or dedicated to Tshepamed, the Buddha of Long Life. These are often followed by ritual prayers conducted on the individual household level or at the community’s choesung, and include Guru Soeldeb, prayers to Guru Rinpoche. Groups of seven or eight monks from Nyimalung Dratshang preside over the Chodpa ritual prayers and rituals in different villages. The monks of Buli Gonpa also preside over Chodpa ritual prayers in upper Chume. It is said that previously monks from Tharpaling Monastery also presided over the Chodpa rituals in the upper villages of Chume like Uruk and Gaytsa, but now they are no longer available due to activities in their home monastery. Wherever monks are not available, local gomchens take their places. It is said that gomchens are playing an increasingly prominent role as monks are busy with their monastic activities as well as due to other disciplinary issues. In all the community Lhakhangs (Temple), the ritual prayers take place on the 10th and 11th days, followed by associated programming that continues through the 15th day. Between the 12th and 15th days, different villages organize traditional games, including archery, Doegor (stone-throwing) and khuru (darts), as well as singing and dancing by almost all the local residents. At night, they organize the Changkor, during which they bring Torma or sacrificial cakes from their respective community temples and carry them from house to house, spreading blessings.

The Việt people in Phú Thọ province have been practicing and trasmitting the worship of Hùng Kings whose father named Lạc Long Quân and mother named Âu Cơ for a very long time. The legend has become a strong belief of the country’s origin in the Việt people’s mentality for centuries. Dynasties of Great Việt attached great importance to the worship of Hùng Kings and offerred imperial conferments to villages worshiping Hùng Kings in temples and shrines. The worship of Hùng Kings has created many legends of wharves, rivers, fields, rice plants, land and other unique cultural creativity. Part of cultural creativity is reenacted in annual worship performed at communal houses, temples and shrines in villages. Communities make offerings of rice – based delicacies such as square cakes and glutinous cakes dedicated to Hùng Kings. Legend has it that, Lang Liêu who later became the seventh Hùng King made these two types of cakes by himself. They represent the heaven and the earth as well as the filial piety of the children for the parents. These two offerings are indispensable in the worship of Hùng Kings. Offerings dedicated to Hùng Kings at temples and shrines by villagers usually last for a few days: offerings by families first and then by the whole community. The tablets of Hùng Kings are proccessed throughout the villages and the rice fields, which implies that Hùng Kings may witness today’s lives of villagers and offer good weather, abundant harvests, good luck and good health to villagers, plants and animals. Offerings conducted by villagers at temples, communal houses, and shrines is supposed to be the most sacred moments when the respect and gratitude of communities dedicated to Hùng Kings are expressed.

Viet Nam 2012

It is a sermon that conveys difficult doctrines in a form and level familiar to ordinary believers or non-Buddhists, rather than the so-called &apos;BeopMun(法門)&apos;, aimed at Buddhist experts or believers with a high understanding of doctrine. Through this, it could be used as catechesis for Buddhists, and it was carried out as a means of alms giving and propaganda by visiting villages other than temples. Ttangseolbeop corresponds to the Korean form of ‘Gangchang (講唱)’ and ‘Sokgang (俗講)’, which have been actively studied in China. 땅설법은 어려운 교리를 불교 전문가 또는 교리에 이해도가 높은 신도들을 대상으로 하는, 이른바 ‘법문’(法門)의 형식이 아닌 일반 신도들 또는 비불교도에게 익숙한 형식과 수준으로 전달하는 설법을 의미한다. 이를 통해 불교 신도 대상의 교리 교육으로 삼을 수 있고, 절이 아닌 일반 마을들을 돌아다니며 탁발과 포교의 방편으로 행해졌다. 땅설법은 중국에서 활발히 연구되었던 불교 ‘강창(講唱)’, ‘속강(俗講)’의 한국형에 해당된다. 어려운 법문이 아닌 일반 민중과 눈높이 한다는 의미로 땅(地)자를 붙여 땅설법이라 붙인 것으로 이해된다. 이러한 불교 속강문화는 불교가 전파된 국가에서는 보편적으로 있었던 문화인데 지금 현재는 그 어느 곳에서도 전승되고 있지 않다. 다만 중국에는 둔황 석굴 장경각에서 이와 관련된 많은 문서들, 이른바 &apos;변문&apos;들이 발견되었다. 다만 그것을 어떻게 연행(공연)하였는지는 전승이 되지 않고 있다. 중국의 판소리라 불리는 설창이 이것의 후대형이라고 말해지고 있다. 한국 또한 이런 문화가 이미 1960년대 이전에 소멸되었던 것은 학계에 알려졌으나 지난 2018년 삼척 신기면의 한 작은 절, 안정사에서 전승되어 오고 있음이 알려지면서 학계의 관심을 모으고 있다. 땅설법의 구비경전(레퍼토리)은 중요하게 취급하는 본전(本典) 5종과 그에 비해 중요도가 약한 별전(別典)이 있다. 본전에는 <석가모니일대기(釋迦牟尼一代記)>, <선재동자구법기(善財童子求法記>, <목련존자일대기(目連尊者一代記)>, <성주신일대기(成造神一代記)>, <신중신일대기(身衆神一代記)>가 있다. 이 각각의 경전을 연행하는 것은 의례 목적이나 대상 청중에 따라 선택하게 된다. 즉, <석가모니일대기(釋迦牟尼一代記)>는 가장 기본되는 구비경전으로 땅설법 학습을 할 때 가장 먼저 학습을 시작하는 경전이다. 이 경전은 사월초파일이나 영산재 등에 연행되는데 그 전편을 연행하지는 않는다. 그 양이 압도적으로 많기 때문이다. 보통 초파일 <석가모니일대기> 땅설법에서는 ‘부처의 탄생 부분’을 주로 한다. <선재동자구법기(善財童子求法記>는 불교 선지식과 관련하기 때문에 일반인들이 이해하기는 힘들다. 따라서 불교 교리에 밝은 이들의 수행 모임에서 선택된다. <목련존자일대기(目連尊者一代記)>는 목련존자가 어머니의 극락왕생을 위한 여정을 내용으로 하기 때문에 천도와 관련된 의례에서 연행한다. <성주신일대기(成造神一代記)>는 화엄신중 중의 하나인 ‘성주신’에 대한 내용이므로 성주대재에서 연행한다. <신중신일대기(身衆神一代記)>은 칠성대재나 신중기도 등에서 선택된다. <성주신일대기>와 <신중신일대기>는 전혀 불교를 모르는 일반인들을 포교할 목적일 경우 선택되는 경전이다. 그 내용이 한 인물의 일대기 구성을 취하고 있고, 그 안에 일반 민중들의 여러 민속문화들이 많이 포함되어 있어 친근하게 느껴지기 때문이다. <석가모니일대기>, <선재동자구법기>, <목련존자일대기>는 각각 유형의 불교경전이 존재한다. 그러나 <성주신일대기>와 <신중신일대기>는 전혀 그 모본에 해당되는 경전을 찾을 수 없다. 아마도 땅설법 전승자들이 창안한 이른바 위경(僞經), 중국 돈황변문에 대응하는 한국의 변문(變文)인 셈이다. 이 경전들은 공통점을 취하는데 그것은 한 인물(내지 신격)의 일대기 구성을 취하고 있다는 점이다. 이것은 곧 이 구비경전을 듣고 보는 이들의 몰입을 이끌어내기에 용이한 때문이며, 그런 가운데 목적하는 불교 교리와 문화의 전달이 용이했기 때문으로 보인다. 5종의 본전 외에 별전이 존재한다. <만석중득도기(曼碩衆得道記)>, <안락국태자경(安樂國太子經)>, <태자수대나경(太子須大拏經)>, <심청효행록(沈淸孝行錄)>, <삼한세존일대기(三韓世尊一代記)>, <위제희부인만원연기(韋提希夫人滿願緣起)> 등이 있다. 땅설법을 연행할 때는 필수적으로 그림(변상도)가 있어야 하며, 이 변상도는 위의 스토리의 중요한 부분을 한장 한장 그린 것이다. 그리고 이 그림을 들고서 스님이 말(강)과 소리(창)를 섞어 전달한다. 그러나 땅설법이 민중의 눈높이에 맞추기 위하여 고안된 불교의 포교 수단 내지 교리 전달 수단이었기에 더욱더 적극적으로 청중들의 참여를 이끌어내면서 다양한 연행들이 혼합된다. 인형극, 가면극, 역할극, 다양한 민요와 춤 등을 하며 참여자의 공감을 자아내는 한편, 그들이 직접 참여케 함으로써 불교교육적 효과를 극대화한다. 현재 안정사 땅설법은 전승의 위기에 놓여있다. 종파에 속하지 않은 작은 절이기에 현재 땅설법의 맥을 이을 후계자가 없다. 다여 스님이라는 단 한명만이 이를 연행하고 있다. 또 삼척 안정사 땅설법이 위치한 곳이 도로공사 등과 맞물리면서 자칫 그 근거가 사라질 위기에 있다. 이렇게 되면 소중한 종교공동체의 와해가 예상된다. 이에 시급한 조처가 필요하다.

The offering of Kathin cloth or Kathin cloth is a ritual that believers or even monks perform rituals in temples to make Kathin cloth. There are two kinds of Kathin as "Choun la Kathin" is small Kathin and "Ma Ha Kathin" is big Kathin. Kathin has a fixed time for offerings. cannot be offered forever like any other cloth. This time, with only one month from the waning days of the first lunar month to the 11th day of the 15th lunar month 12 (12 lunar months), this period is called the transitional period Katin ceremony or festival. We also take place in the temple. Laotians march around the church three times carrying money trees and cloth for the monks. According to the beliefs of the Lao people, This acacia festival is organized for remedies or utilitarian benefits: (1) maintaining traditional good not to cease (2) is followed Buddha draws upon the breed of the Prophet (3) of the Securities and life with Russell kernels night (4) creates solidarity between Buddhist agency (5) a road to heaven and nirvana for themselves.

One of the religions practiced in Vietnam is Buddhism. With that, it is undeniable how scattered Buddhist temples are in this country. During my travel there, we were able to enter these temples and see the intricate the designs of the architecture and how &apos;golden&apos; the offerings are.