Warmth of the Full Moon Festival in the countryside

In the minds of Vietnamese people in general and Nghe An people in particular, the Full Moon Festival (also known as Tet Nguyen Tieu, Tet Thuong Nguyen) is a very important holiday, officially ending the Lunar New Year. During these days, people often go to temples and pagodas to pray for peace and prepare offerings to worship their ancestors.

In particular, many clans organize ancestor worship ceremonies on a large scale, gathering a large number of descendants.offering incense, offering offerings to show respect to grandparents and ancestors. This is also an opportunity for generations in the family to show solidarity, support, share difficulties and look forward to the good things in life.

Ancestor worship ceremony at Tran Duc family temple, Yen Son commune (Do Luong). Photo: CSCC

The Nguyen Van family is a large family in the area of ​​Nam Son and Dang Son communes (Do Luong), including 1 main ancestral temple and 12 sub-branch temples. According to annual tradition, on the occasion of the Lantern Festival, the family council organizes ancestral worship, and descendants of each branch prepare offerings to go to the main ancestral temple to worship. The worship aims to praise the ancestors' merits and the filial piety of descendants.

Here, children and grandchildren can still hear aboutorigin, the history of the family's formation, the ancestors who have made many contributions to the people and the country. From there, fostering pride in the traditions that ancestors have worked hard to cultivate, guiding descendants to improve their will and determination in studying and working, worthy of the contributions of previous generations.

Children and grandchildren of the Tran Duc family offer gifts and incense at the ancestral altar. Photo: CSCC

After the ancestor worship ceremony, the offerings are brought from the main temple to the temples of the sub-branches so that the descendants can happily gather and reunite. During the intimate meal, everyone expresses the joy of reunion, sharing their feelings, sadness, and joy to unite and build the family and homeland to be more beautiful and rich.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hong - a member of the Nguyen Van Family Council said: "After two years of having to reduce the scale and time of the ceremony to prevent and fight the Covid-19 epidemic, this year the ancestor worship activities have returned to normal. The ceremony attracted a large number of descendants, everyone was happy and excited to offer incense and offerings to their ancestors and to meet each other in the sacred place of the family."

Elders of the Tran Duc family perform ancestral worship ceremony. Photo: CSCC

For the Tran Duc family in Yen Son commune (Do Luong), the ceremony takes place from the afternoon and night of the 14th of the first lunar month. Descendants take turns bringing offerings to the altar to express their respect and pray for their ancestors to bless them with good luck and good things in life.

Mr. Tran Tuan Thi, a son of the Tran Duc family, currently living in Vinh City, has arranged his work to return to his hometown on the occasion of the Ancestor Worship Ceremony. According to Mr. Thi, when he stepped into the grounds of the great temple, he heard the sound ofsacrificial drumSeeing the ceremonial people in solemn costumes, in the silent scene of incense smoke, it feels like the ancestors are very close and are watching over their descendants.

Descendants of the Nguyen Trong family in Dien Hoa commune (Dien Chau) offer incense to their ancestors on the full moon day of the first lunar month. Photo: Nguyen Book

Like other clans in Do Luong district, the descendants of the Nguyen Trong clan in Dien Hoa commune (Dien Chau) also gathered in large numbers at the family temple on the occasion of the full moon of January. The ceremony began on the afternoon of the 14th day of the first lunar month. The clan's descendants who are working and living all over the country returned in the joy of gathering and reunion.

In Yen Thanh district, most of the clans worship their ancestors on the full moon of January, so on this day the whole village is bustling and excited. Especially, on this occasion, the rice fields also organize drum beating competitions between clans, making the atmosphere of the Lantern Festival even more bustling.

Praying for ancestors to bless with luck and good things. Photo: Dinh Tuyen

The clans send their drum teams to participate in the competition. The team that wins the prize will be the common joy of the whole clan, as well as the hope for fullness and prosperity in the year. Therefore, the atmosphere of the Lantern Festival in the rice land of Yen Thanh is no less joyful than the days of welcoming the New Year.Lunar New Year.

Along with Do Luong, Dien Chau and Yen Thanh, the countrysides of Quynh Luu, Hung Nguyen, Nghi Loc, Nam Dan and Thanh Chuong... are also bustling with the sound of sacrificial drums during the Full Moon Festival of January. The sound of drums and the smoke of incense act as a sacred bridge connecting the hearts and sincerity of descendants with their ancestors, a traditional cultural feature that anchors the human soul to its roots.../.