Australian artist George Burchett and French art producer Philippe Bouler are both of the opinion that Vietnam’s traditional festivals are overly commercialized and their primary purposes--facilitating gatherings and exchanges among individuals and communities—are increasingly overlooked.

French expert Philippe Bouler, nicknamed “Mr. Festival,” has directed, produced, and provided consultation for over 50 festivals throughout the world, including Vietnam’s Hue Festival since it began some 15 years ago.

He agreed that a portion of Vietnamese people tend to increasingly abuse festivals and behave quite inappropriately, thrusting small-denomination notes into every corner of pagodas, even on Buddha statues, and scrambling to touch objects traditionally believed to bring them good luck and wealth.

“This creates chaos in pagodas or festivals where the atmosphere is supposed to be sacred, serene, and peaceful,” Bouler noted.

However, the French expert pointed out that the tendency is not only increasingly evident in Vietnam but is also common in several other Western countries. He cited Christmas as an example, elaborating that the holiday has been turned into a huge commercial show despite its religious roots.

“What really counts is that traditional festivals are supposed to retain their unique nature and not be transformed into a money-making or fortune-seeking tool. Besides, poor families and children everywhere should be able to enjoy the fests as much as wealthy people do,” he noted.

Regarding the Hue Festival, the city’s hallmark festival that debuted in 2000, Bouler and his team went to great lengths and made numerous calculations and preparations to make sure that the event went as well as expected.

“With such painstaking preparations, we sometimes overlooked the essence of the festival,” the expert noted.

Philippe Bouler, 57, first arrived in Vietnam to direct a French puppetry festival under the initiative of the Association Francaise d'Action Artistique (Association of French Artistic Action) in 1984. He has directed, produced, and provided artistic consultation for the Hue Festival for several years since its infancy, as well as organizing new, major art events.

Australian artist George Burchett, who was born in Hanoi in 1955 to late journalist Wilfred Burchett—one of the few first Western reporters to visit the Viet Bac (northernmost Vietnam) military base—and settled in Vietnam with his wife in 2011, is of the same opinion regarding Vietnamese people’s attitudes toward traditional festivals.

“I currently live in Hanoi’s Yen Phu village, where locals live together just like an extended family. They cherish communal life and traditional cultural activities and hold their own fests each year,” Burchette noted.

He stressed that Vietnamese people hold some 8,000 traditional fests of various scales across the country each year. Such traditions no longer exist in Western countries, where people become more distant from each other with every day that passes.

Regarding the rampant scamming, rip offs, theft, and pick pocketing during Vietnamese festivals, Burchette maintained that these occurrences also plague festivals in other countries, such as Italy or Spain.

“Despite negative attitudes and acts, I strongly believe that such behavior isn’t typical of Vietnamese people,” he concluded.

“I really love visiting pagodas on special occasions as well as participating in other traditional Vietnamese festivals. Although careful preparation is essential, festival organizers need to be careful that they aren’t turning the festivals into big shows for tourists. They should be respectful of tradition and appeal to locals as well,” he noted.