Mystery of Lang Rao Temple

(Baonghean) - Lang Rao Temple, also known as Nha Quan Temple, is located in Hamlet 7, Hung Dao Commune, Hung Nguyen District (about 1,500m south of National Highway 46). Initially, the temple was a shrine to a general - a saint who had merit in fighting the enemy, and was a good doctor who cured people's illnesses...

According to legend: More than 4 centuries ago, during the transitional season, Rao village suffered an unprecedented disaster. An epidemic broke out, everyone from the old to the young were covered in boils, and no cure was found. People were panic-stricken...

Rao Village Temple.

At that time, the villagers heard that there was a good doctor who had served as an official under the Le Dynasty in the mid-17th century. After that, he resigned and traveled everywhere to treat and save people. The villagers sent someone to invite him to come back and treat people.

Understanding the suffering of the people, he returned to the village and, regardless of the hardships day and night, visited the sick and prescribed medicine for each person. When the last person recovered, the villagers could no longer see him. Some time later, on a sandbank about 300m from the village, there was a sound of someone reading a book, both real and unreal, especially on moonlit nights. The villagers believed that this was where the doctor, the village's benefactor, had passed away. From then on, the villagers called that sandbank Teacher Hoc Islet.

Thay Hoc Islet became mysterious, and when people came here, they discovered that the herbs on the islet were the medicinal herbs mentioned in the nightly readings. People listened, followed the instructions and cured some sick people in the village, and it was indeed effective.

Seeing the sacredness of the deity, the villagers built a small shrine right on Thay Hoc islet to burn incense every day. The shrine became more and more sacred, attracting villagers, and then people from neighboring villages to come and burn incense and pray in increasing numbers. To meet the spiritual needs of the people, the villagers of Rao village discussed with each other, finding a suitable place to move the shrine.

The village invited a good geomancer to help the village find a new location, which is the current location of the temple, 300m from Thay Hoc islet, on a piece of land with good feng shui, gathering spirits and water, shaped like a turtle. The location to build the temple is on the turtle's head, in front is a wide strip of land symbolizing a medicinal warehouse; on the right are a few houses symbolizing a knife for cutting medicine and on the left is a well, symbolizing a bowl of medicine. The location is so special that it is closely linked to the god's medical profession.

The sacred echo and admiration for him were known to visitors from all over the world, and the number of people who came to burn incense and pray increased day by day. The temple has gone through many ups and downs of history with the local people. In 1938, the people rebuilt a rather large temple. The temple has a pair of parallel sentences in Nom script as follows: The righteous air of a thousand years is the foundation of the general's door/The wind harmonizes the eight realms of virtue of the mandarin's house.

Currently, Lang Rao Temple is in a beautiful location, with open, spacious space and charming scenery. It is the intersection of two winding canals and ancient Barringtonia trees reflecting on the countryside water. However, due to many reasons, the temple has seriously degraded, leaving only the Upper Palace. Since 1992, due to the sacredness of the temple, with the attention of authorities at all levels and the socialization of people and tourists from all over, the temple has been restored and embellished, with 3 buildings built for ceremonies, serving the preservation of the identity and spiritual activities of the people.

Ancient banyan tree in front of Rao village temple

On the first and fifteenth days of every month, holidays and Tet, many visitors come to pray for wealth, fortune and bad luck at the temple. In order to promote the value of the Lang Rao temple relic, over the past time, from the source of merit and socialization, the temple has expanded its campus, the traffic system, and propaganda work has been focused. Every year on the 11th day of the 10th lunar month, the commune organizes a solemn and respectful festival attracting thousands of visitors. On December 25, 2015, the Provincial People's Committee issued a Decision to recognize Lang Rao temple as a provincial historical and cultural relic.

Mr. Phan Van Tan - Chairman of Hung Dao Commune People's Committee said: The commune's orientation in the coming time is to continue managing the activities of the Lang Rao Temple relic site along with other relics in the area, aiming to educate the young generation about the tradition of patriotism, while meeting the spiritual and cultural needs of the people and tourists from all over. The commune is concerned about upgrading the Lang Rao Temple Festival to have 2 parts (ceremony and festival). In addition to the solemn ceremony such as the opening ceremony, the grand ceremony, the thanksgiving ceremony; the festival will restore traditional folk games such as tug of war, singing of the fabric guild, rice cooking competition... introducing the village's specialties such as ham, moc...

Rao Village Temple Festival is an attractive destination of Hung Nguyen district in particular and Nghe An in general.

Thanh Thuy