Nine-Room Temple Festival: Sacred Origin

(Baonghean) - Coming to Que Phong these days, visitors from all over can feel the festive atmosphere everywhere. Participating in the Nine-Room Temple festival is an indispensable part of sacred beliefs... This is an opportunity for Thai ethnic people to make a pilgrimage to their roots, hold a festival to worship heaven, worship ancestors and pray for blessings for nine villages and ten muongs.

The Nine-Room Temple was built in the early 14th century in Pu Chu Nhang, called Ten Pom (temple on the mountain), in Khoang village, Chau Kim commune, Que Phong district. The temple has nine rooms so the locals call it Ten Cau-hoong (ie Nine-Room Temple), each room represents a Muong: Muong Ton, Muong Pan, Muong Chun, Muong Hin, Muong Puoc, Muong Quang, Muong Ha Quen, Muong Mieng, Muong Chon.

Legend has it that: One year, on the day of the festival to worship the sky, when preparing to perform the buffalo sacrifice ceremony, suddenly a dragon flew over and took away the white buffalo of Muong Ton. Seeing the bad omen, Tao Muong immediately ordered the buffalo to be killed in a ceremony, praying to the gods and ancestors to move the temple to another place. According to legend, a white-necked crow came and picked up a piece of buffalo bone from the old temple and flew away and dropped it on a small hill south of Muong Ton, also called Pu Cam (golden mountain), commonly called Pu Quai (buffalo mountain). Therefore, at the end of the 18th century, the temple was moved to Pu Cam or also known as Hien Trau temple, in Pieng Chao village, Chau Kim commune. At that time, the temple had a 9-room stilt house with a thatched roof; worshiping Then - Pha (worshiping the sky), Nang Xi Da (daughter of the sky) and Tao Lo Y (the person who built the village and established the Muong). In 1927, the temple was restored with a stilt house, with 4 rows of pillars, nine compartments made of ironwood, and roofed with corrugated iron. From 1927 to 2003, after a long period with many historical ups and downs, the temple was degraded and lost, only ruins remained. In 2004, the temple was restored to preserve and promote the cultural identity of the Thai people in the Northwest of Nghe An.

In the past, the Nine-Room Temple Festival was held every three years in the eighth lunar month, an occasion for people from nine villages and ten Muongs in Phu Quy area to make a pilgrimage to their homeland to hold a festival to worship heaven, worship their ancestors, pray for favorable weather and good crops. Since 2006, the Nine-Room Temple Festival on a grand scale has been held again in the middle of the second lunar month every year, meeting the spiritual and cultural needs of the Thai people to remember their ancestors and roots. In 2008, the temple was recognized as a provincial-level cultural relic.

Ritual at Nine-Room Temple Festival (Que Phong).

The highlight of the Nine-Chamber Temple Festival in Que Phong is the "hap quai" ceremony, which is the buffalo offering ceremony. According to traditional customs, every year on the opening day of the festival, the nine Muongs bring offerings to the Nine-Chamber Temple to perform a ceremony to worship the sky, Tao Lo Y and the ancestors of the Thai clans who built the village. It has become a tradition that the first and indispensable offering that the Muong Ton people offer during the ceremonies to worship the sky and Tao Lo Y is always a white female buffalo - the offering in the most sacred worship ceremonies. The other two Muongs, Muong Quang and Muong Puoc, also offer a white buffalo, but it is a male buffalo. The remaining Muongs offer a black buffalo, but it must be a healthy buffalo. After the buffalo is brought down to bathe at the Ta Tao river wharf (Quan wharf), the buffalo slaughtering ceremony will be carried out amidst the cheers of the people attending the ceremony. The buffalo meat is placed on the highest step of the temple. The shaman performed the buffalo offering ceremony for three days and nights, then divided it up and cooked it for everyone to eat.

The unique beliefs of the Thai people are also clearly shown in the forms of singing and responding. A new feature this year is the Thai writing contest which has also been included in the content of the festival. This is part of the work of preserving and promoting the Thai ethnic identity from being lost, encouraging people to go to school to learn to read and write.

At the Nine-Chamber Temple Festival, besides the solemn and traditional rituals, the joyful atmosphere of the festival is even more exciting with the festival with attractive folk games such as: tug of war, throwing con, bamboo jumping, gong beating, carving, drinking rice wine, lam vong dance, crossbow shooting, stick pushing, volleyball exchange, folk performances, wrapping banh chung, cooking sticky rice, camping and beauty contest of nine muongs from 14 communes and towns in the district. The festival is also an opportunity for nine muongs to display and introduce traditional handicrafts and local handicrafts such as brocade, bamboo and rattan weaving, and to display and introduce culinary culture with traditional dishes of the communes in the district.

Comrade Lu Dinh Thi - Chairman of Que Phong District People's Committee said: "This is an important event of the Party Committee, government and people of the district, demonstrating the responsibility and respect of today's generations, contributing to honoring the merits of our ancestors who founded the village and the Muong, while preserving and promoting the traditional cultural values ​​of the Thai ethnic group in the Northwest of Nghe An. The festival is an opportunity to introduce and promote the potential of cultural tourism, contributing to promoting the socio-economic development of Que Phong district and the Northwest of Nghe An. More than a month before Tet, the festival organizing committee has developed plans for organization and management such as maintaining security and order, fighting against superstitious activities, etc. so that the festival takes place safely, economically, healthily and civilly".

The Nine-Chamber Temple Festival is a gathering place for the community's consciousness with the beauty of spiritual culture, art culture and very special traditional customs and practices. Coming to the festival is returning to the roots of the Thai people in Western Nghe An. The successful organization of the Nine-Chamber Temple Festival not only meets the expectations of the local people, but also contributes to reviewing traditions, educating children about patriotism, the morality of "remembering the source of water when drinking", national pride and the responsibility of each person to their homeland and people. At the same time, it meets the spiritual needs of a large number of tourists from all over the world.

Thanh Le