King Mai Temple - spiritual tourist destination

(Baonghean) - Mai Hac De's real name was Mai Thuc Loan, born in Ngoc Trung village, Dong Liet commune (now Nam Thai commune, Nam Dan district). In 713, Mai Thuc Loan was present in the group of porters who went to pay tribute to Emperor Huyen Tong.

Along the way, the laborers suffered greatly. As a strong, agile, talented, and ambitious man, Mai Thuc Loan mobilized the laborers to rise up and kill the officials and escort soldiers, then together held an oath-taking ceremony, together swearing: "Dedicated to revenge, kill all the enemies to save the country" and honored Mai Thuc Loan as the leader. Mai Thuc Loan established an army, gathered hunting groups around the area to add strength. Choosing Sa Nam as the base showed his vision worthy of the leader's position, because this terrain had both initiative and defense. Dun Hill was larger than Ve Hill, dangerous and secretive, surrounded on both sides by Lam River. He built the rampart of Van An citadel right in today's Nam Dan Town, storing war elephants, weapons, and reserve food for long-term planning. With a strong army, a solid base, and the wholehearted support of the people, Mai Thuc Loan soon acquired a large area of ​​land. The country was liberated, Mai Thuc Loan was crowned King by the army. He led his army to Van An citadel and chose this place as the capital. The King had dark skin, so the people affectionately called him Mai Hac De.

King Mai Temple. Photo: Sy Minh

After King Mai Hac De passed away, the people of Sa Nam (now Nam Dan Town) built a temple, mausoleum, and tomb to worship him and his generals. Through the ups and downs of history, the temple, mausoleum, and tomb of King Mai were degraded and damaged. In 1990, the Nghe An Department of Culture and Information restored each item of the temple and in 2005, the Provincial People's Committee continued to invest in restoration and embellishment. Compared to before, the scale of the temple is now smaller, but still retains its majestic and ancient beauty in a large space; the Ministry of Culture and Information (now the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) granted a Certificate of National Historical - Cultural Relic.

The relic site associated with the life and career of Mai Hac De in Nam Dan includes a temple, mausoleum, and tomb of King Mai, King Mai's son (Mai Thieu De - Mai Thuc Huy), tombs of generals (in Van Dien commune), and King Mai's mother's tomb (in Nam Thai commune). King Mai's temple includes the Tam Quan gate, the Lower Palace, the Middle Palace, the Upper Palace, the Left and Right Vu. In the temple, there are parallel sentences, horizontal lacquered boards, ritual sacrifices, the throne of the king and his ministers, statues of King Mai..., all of which are painted red and gilded, worthy of being a place to worship a national hero honored by the people. King Mai's tomb was built right on his tomb, above the tomb is a shrine, on both sides are two banyan trees over 250 years old. About 300 meters to the right of King Mai's tomb is the tomb of King Mai's son (Mai Thuc Huy - Mai Thieu De), a general, King Mai's right-hand man in the uprising.

The location of the complex of mausoleum, tomb and temple of King Mai was built on the bank of Lam River and the place of worship and resting place of King Mai and his generals was built right in the center of the ancient Van An citadel of Sa Nam region - where Hung Son (Dun Mountain) forms an arc facing Lam River embracing the entire temple and shrine area with lush forests all year round creating a beautiful landscape, majestic mountains and rivers, poetic landscape. Not far from the temple and mausoleum, on Ru De, in Ngoc Trung village, Nam Thai commune is the tomb of Mrs. Vuong Thi Than, mother of King Mai. This tomb was built into a small temple, halfway up the hill with a surrounding path, on National Highway 46 you can see it faintly in the trees. In addition to the temple, mausoleum and tomb of King Mai in Van Dien commune, Sa Nam town, in Nam Dan area there are also memorial temples at Doc Loi temple (Nam Giang commune), Chi Thien temple (Nam Cat commune), Kha Lam communal house (Nam Thuong commune).

In addition to its historical and cultural value, over the years, the Mai King relic complex in Nam Dan district has become a place for sightseeing and tourism associated with spiritual culture for visitors from all over the world. In the minds of the people of Sa Nam region, he has appeared, becoming a human god, a saint and entrusting sacred beliefs. Therefore, the children of this land, no matter where they work, when returning home, come to Mai King Temple to thank and ask for Mai King and his generals' blessings. Every year on the 15th day of the first lunar month, the people of Nam Dan district organize Mai King Temple Festival to commemorate the merits of Mai Hac De and his generals. This is a special way for Mai Hac De to live forever, this is also the gratitude of future generations to contribute to honoring the career and merits of the national hero Mai Hac De and his generals to the country.

Mr. Ho Anh Mai - Head of the Department of Culture and Information, said: The Mai King Temple Festival was previously limited to the commune and the area surrounding the temple. Since 1996, it has been upgraded to a district-level festival and in 2005, it has been upgraded to a regional-level festival by the People's Committee. The exciting activities in the Mai King Temple Festival always attract a large number of people and tourists from all over the country to attend with the wish to pay homage to the historical roots of the nation, to light an incense stick to express their respect and pray for national peace, people's peace, and prosperity and happiness for every family. These are ceremonies that demonstrate profound spirituality and humanity with practical actions expressing the tradition and morality of remembering the source of water when drinking. The sacredness and faith in the tradition of building and defending the country of our ancestors is a symbol of the foundation of belief in the process of building the homeland and the country. This is the unique value hidden in the Mai King Temple Festival. In addition, every year at the Mai Hac De temple and relics, there are many important festivals: Full Moon Temple Festival in January, King Mai's death anniversary on September 16, Mai Mau's death anniversary on July 4, Mai Hoang Hau's death anniversary on July 15 (lunar calendar).

Minh Chi