An art performance in the Sen Village Festival 2026. — VNA/VNS Photo Bích Huệ

NGHỆ AN — The 2026 Sen Village Festival opened in Kim Liên Commune, the central province of Nghệ An, on May 18 evening, marking the 136th birth anniversary of President Hồ Chí Minh (May 19).

At the event, President of the Hồ Chí Minh National Academy of Politics Đoàn Minh Huấn, on behalf of the Party and State leaders, presented the first-class Labour Order to the Board of Directors of the Kim Liên special national relic site.

Deputy Prime Minister Lê Tiến Châu and Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Lâm Thị Phương Thanh handed over the decision recognising Kim Liên as a national tourism area, an important milestone that affirms its value and propels a new phase of cultural and tourism development in the late President’s homeland.

In his opening speech, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Thái Văn Thành noted that over 45 years, the event evolved from “Songs from Sen Village” and the “Sen Village Singing Festival” into the Sen Village Festival in 2002. Since then, it has been staged annually at the provincial level and every five years on a national scale.

He called the festival a key occasion to commemorate President Hồ Chí Minh’s birth, expressing profound respect and gratitude from all walks of life for the late leader, a national liberation hero, a great man of culture and a shining symbol in the golden pages of Vietnamese history, culture and the Communist Party of Việt Nam.

The event also gives domestic and foreign visitors deeper exposure to the people and culture of Nghệ An, one of Việt Nam's most distinctive cultural areas, known for its ví and giặm folk singing recognised by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Running from May 18-30, the 2026 Sen Village Festival packs in a wide slate of activities, including flower and incense offerings, tributes at the Hồ Chí Minh Memorial House, a procession of his portraits, thematic exhibitions marking the 115th anniversary of his departure to seek a path to national salvation and the 80th anniversary of his appeal for national resistance, a “Rural Market” cultural space with experiential tourism, the virtual reality feature “Returning to the Sacred Moment,” and traditional folk games.

The opening ceremony’s centrepiece was a large-scale semi-reality art show co-hosted by the provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Hồ Chí Minh City Department of Culture and Sports, and the Hồ Chí Minh City Drama Theater.

The three-part show retraced President Hồ Chí Minh’s journey from his native Sen village to his aspiration for national independence, while conveying the spirit of national unity and Vietnam’s development aspirations in a new era. — VNA/VNS