Nine-chamber Temple Festival: 'Paving the way for Que Phong tourism development'

(Baonghean) - The organization of the Nine-Room Temple Festival has revived the traditions and unique cultural products of the Thai people in the Western region of Nghe An.

Legendary Fountain

In the treasure trove of Thai folk tales in Phu Quy, there is still a legend about the establishment of Muong and the establishment of villages: In the past, Muong Tao in Luang Pha Bang (the ancient capital of Luang Prabang - Laos) gave birth to two talented sons, the elder was Lo Y, the younger was Lo Ai. Knowing that his father intended to give the throne to his elder brother, Lo Ai killed his brother and threw his body into the Ma River. Lo Y drifted downstream, got stuck in a narrow river. Lo Y was treated by a white crow who gave him a magical pill to cure him. Lo Y came back to life and went to a nearby area to beg for food.

The area where Lo Y went to was unmanaged and often in turmoil. The people in the area saw that Lo Y was strong and of noble birth, so they honored him as Tao. Under Lo Y's leadership, the land developed more and more. In gratitude for the crow's rescue, the area Lo Y governed was named Muong Ca Gia (now Hoi Xuan commune, Quan Hoa district, Thanh Hoa province).

Symbolic buffalo slaughtering ceremony at the Nine-Garden Temple festival in 2016. Photo: HP

After governing for several years, Lo Y gave his authority to others to return to his hometown. Lo Y lost his way to another land. Here, the Thai people gathered together but there was no one to govern, so they had not yet formed villages or muongs. Following the people's request, Lo Y stayed to govern, helping the people establish villages and muongs. The land was good, birds flocked, and more people moved here to live. Tao Lo Y organized for the people to reclaim and establish new muongs. The first land ruled by Tao Lo Y was called Muong Ton.

The later Muongs were Muong Quang, Muong Chun, Muong Pan, Muong Puoc, Muong Ha Quen, Muong Mieng, Muong Chon, Muong Chong. The 9 Muongs became more and more prosperous, but natural disasters and floods still caused difficulties every year. The people of the Muongs asked the Creator to build a temple in Muong Ton, as a place to offer buffaloes to Heaven, pray for favorable weather, and a prosperous harvest. Ten Xo Quai - Ten Cau Hong (Hien Trau Temple - Chin Gian Temple) was built on the top of Pu Cho Nhang, northwest of Muong Ton in the 14th century.

One year, during the festival, when it was time to perform the buffalo offering ceremony to the gods, while the buffalo was bathing in the Nam Giai River, suddenly the sky was covered with dark clouds and strong winds, a dragon came and swept away the white buffalo of Muong Ton. The founder of Muong thought it was a bad omen, so he ordered the people to pray to heaven and ancestors to build a temple in another location. A white-necked crow came and picked up a piece of buffalo bone from the temple and flew back to drop it on the small hill of Pu Pom in the south of Muong Ton. Following the will of heaven, in 1927, the Quy Chau district chief Sam Van Hien ordered the people of the Muong to exploit wood and mobilized skilled workers to go to the top of Pu Pom to build a new temple.

Every year, festivals are held for people to express their respect to their ancestors and also to have fun and compete with unique folk games. The ancients believed that the 3 festival days are the 3 days when all the people of the 9 villages go to heaven, so all the roads and paths must follow the laws of heaven.

People attending the temple must be carefully selected, must not violate moral conduct, must not steal, must not smoke opium, unmarried women, and minors are not allowed to attend the temple. The offering is a buffalo that has not been plowed, has no physical defects. In addition, each village has 9 piglets, 90 small chickens, and 90 grilled river fish... Due to many historical factors, for a long time in the 20th century, the Nine-Chamber Temple gradually fell into disrepair, became a ruin, and the festival was also interrupted.

Honoring the old...

Life develops, in response to the need for spiritual activities and cultural enjoyment of the people; in order to preserve, inherit and promote the traditional values ​​of "When drinking water, remember its source", contributing to preserving and promoting the cultural identity of the Thai ethnic group in the Northwest of Nghe An; in 2004, the People's Committee of Que Phong district decided to start the restoration of the Nine-Garden Temple and turn the Nine-Garden Temple Festival into a major festival of the people. In 2008, the Nine-Garden Temple was recognized as a provincial-level historical and cultural relic. And since 2006, the Nine-Garden Temple Festival has been held again on a grand scale. The festival takes place in the middle of the second lunar month every year.

Carving performance in the festival

The organization of the Nine-Chain Temple Festival has revived the traditions and unique cultural products of the Thai people in the Western Nghe An region, and is an opportunity for people from the nine ancient Muongs to make a pilgrimage, meet, exchange, and strengthen solidarity among the ethnic groups. The Nine-Chain Temple Festival includes many unique activities. The ceremony includes the opening ceremony, the announcement ceremony (the ceremony of the mandarin), the buffalo bathing ceremony and the procession ceremony (Ap Quai and ton Dam-ton Then), the buffalo offering ceremony (the ceremony of the mandarin), the buffalo slaughtering ceremony (the ceremony of the mandarin), the grand ceremony (the ceremony of the mandarin, the mandarin), the opening ceremony and the thanksgiving ceremony (the ceremony of the mandarin). (In recent years, the buffalo slaughtering ceremony has been maintained, but the buffalo slaughtering is only symbolic, demonstrating the civilization and progress in modern society while still preserving the cultural identity of the people)...

The festival includes camping competition activities with the identity of ancient Thai stilt houses; folk games such as bamboo pole jumping, to le, and throwing con; banh chung wrapping contest, cooking sticky rice, and culinary contest of communes and towns; cultural activities including drum, gong, and cymbal carving and singing, nhuon dou dap, art competition, and festival beauty contest; in addition, there are competitions in traditional sports such as cockfighting, to le, throwing con, tug of war, crossbow shooting, stick pushing, card chess, and stilt walking...

With many unique values, the Nine-chamber Temple Festival is honored as a national intangible cultural heritage. It is believed that being honored will help Que Phong land and people become more and more known to tourists and friends from near and far. The Nine-chamber Temple Festival will pave the way for the attractive tourism potential of the locality to be effectively promoted; traditional handicrafts and fine arts of the people will become popular goods, thereby the socio-economic development of the district will be increasingly developed.

Thanh Son