Duc Hoang Temple Festival: Bustling with joy in the rice fields

(Baonghean) - At the end of January, when purple xoan flowers are blooming along the village roads and the green rice fields are about to enter, girls, people in the rice district and surrounding residents clean up their houses to invite each other to enjoy the spring festival at Hoang Temple.

Procession at Duc Hoang Temple Festival. Photo: Ho Cac

Legend of the sacred temple

Hoang Temple (also known as Duc Hoang Temple) in Phuc Thanh Commune (Yen Thanh) was built in the 16th century. It is an architectural work of historical and artistic value, built by our ancestors in a position of water and air flow, with a solemn, sacred and mysterious appearance. The temple leans against a primeval forest with many dense ancient trees, facing the lotus pond of Dieu Oc village, also known as Thuy O pond - one of the beautiful landscapes of the Dong Yen district (present-day Yen Thanh and Dien Chau). In the book "Dong Thanh Phong Tho Ky", Giam Sinh Ngo Tri Hop ranked Dieu village lotus pond as one of the "eight beautiful" of the region. Therefore, going to Hoang Temple festival in early Spring is also an opportunity to admire the scenery of a wonderful green mountain and blue water area.

According to the dossier of ranking the Hoang Temple as a National Historical and Cultural Relic in 1997, this is a spiritual cultural work to worship the deity who has contributed to "protecting the country and protecting the people", in which the main character worshiped is Sat Hai Dai Vuong Hoang Ta Thon. According to "Dai Viet Su Ky Toan Thu" by Ngo Si Lien and the stele "Nam Mieu Ton Than Su Tich" by Cao Xuan Duc - General Director of the National History Institute of the Nguyen Dynasty, Hoang Ta Thon was born in 1254, in Van Phan village, now Dien Van commune (Dien Chau). He was a person with extraordinary health, with the ability to swim underwater as if walking on land. He became the "Internal Secretary" of Hung Dao Dai Vuong Tran Quoc Tuan, was granted a seal, commanded tens of thousands of troops and ships to ambush on Bach Dang River to defeat the Yuan-Mongol army, and Hung Dao Dai Vuong used armored vehicles, making great achievements in winning on Bach Dang River in 1288. The country was peaceful, Hoang Ta Thon was assigned to look after 12 seaports, suppress many pirates, prevent foreign invasions, and oversee the development of agriculture, forestry and fisheries to take care of the lives of fishermen, woodcutters, farmers and herders. He died while on patrol at sea, the king ordered a dragon boat to carry his coffin back for burial, built a temple and honored him as "Sat Hai Chang Lai Dai Tuong Quan, Thien Bong Nguyen Soai Chi Than". Since then, people in many regions have built temples to worship Sat Hai Dai Vuong Hoang Ta Thon to remember his merits in helping the people and the country.

Monk Thich Tue Minh holds a prayer ceremony

According to some research works on Nghe An culture edited by Professor Nguyen Dong Chi and Associate Professor Ninh Viet Giao, and according to the memory of some elders in the region, Hoang temple is also associated with the legend of "Mr. Cut Bau Canh, Mr. Lanh Bau Ac". That is a folk story, proven by the system of temples and place names spread across several communes. There was a barren couple living next to the lotus pond in Dieu village. One day, the wife went to bathe in the lotus pond and found dragon slime on her body and from then on she became pregnant and gave birth to two snakes. The two snakes grew quickly and closely followed their parents. One day, while working in the field, the father accidentally hit the baby snake with a hoe and cut off its tail. The father immediately knelt down, clasped his hands and kept saying "phu bai tu" (father bows to his son), where later there was a "bai tu" mound. The snake left, went to Bau Canh (now Duc Thanh commune), crawled up the mountain and died. After wading through the Canh lake to find her son, the mother was exhausted when she reached the outer mountain, which was later called Ngan Nha Ba. The father went deeper inside and died inside the mountain, which was later called Ngan Nha Ong. Where the stump snake painfully writhed and formed a lake and shed a lot of blood before going into the forest, the people built a temple, called Canh Temple, or Ong Cut Temple. The good snake stayed in Ac lake (Sen lake, Dieu village), waiting wearily and lying dead on a mound of earth. There, the people built a temple and called it Ong Lanh temple, which is today's Hoang temple (?). The ancients said that Ong Lanh and Ong Cut both transformed into gods of fortune, protecting and blessing the people in the area.

The legend of “Mr. Cut Bau Canh, Mr. Good Bau Ac” adds to the sacred and mysterious features of Hoang Temple, and at the same time reflects the primitive beliefs of the Vietnamese people that have been passed down here to this day: the custom of worshipping the snake god. The living environment of the ancient Vietnamese people was closely linked to forests, mountains, rivers, lakes, lagoons, and relied heavily on nature. Therefore, the custom of worshipping the snake god satisfied the psychology of relying on a supernatural force with omnipotent power to resolve the wishes of the community, and at the same time relieved the worries and fears of natural phenomena beyond their ability to perceive and control.

Rich in identity

The annual Duc Hoang Temple Festival is one of the main community cultural activities in the region, at the district level, a systematic and complex cultural activity, including religious activities, rituals, folk performances, competitions, entertainment... Through organizing and maintaining festival activities to consolidate and demonstrate the community strength, the vitality of the land rich in folk cultural traditions, the tradition of "remembering the source of drinking water".

Rich in national identity with traditional folk games

This year, with the purpose of organizing the festival to deeply educate the tradition of patriotism, deepen the awareness of protecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity, the awareness of striving to build and develop a strong homeland, Duc Hoang Temple Festival takes place in 3 days, from March 19, 2015 (February 29, At Mui) to March 21, 2015 (February 2, At Mui), with contents oriented towards the humanistic and noble spirit. The ceremony has 6 contents: Opening Ceremony (3:00 p.m. on March 18, January 28 of the lunar calendar); Announcement Ceremony (from 4:00 p.m. on March 19, January 29 of the lunar calendar), Flag Procession Ceremony, procession of Duc Hoang's throne, Uncle Ho's palanquin, and the tablets of the families going on a spring tour around the lotus pond of Dieu Oc village (from 7:15 a.m. on March 20, February 1 of the lunar calendar); New ceremony (rally, from 8:30 am on March 20, 1/2 lunar month); Great ceremony (from 10 am on March 20, 1/2 lunar month); Thanksgiving ceremony (from 4 pm on March 21, 2/2 lunar month). The festival includes many unique folk cultural activities and promotes martial arts spirit such as wrestling, stick pushing, tug of war, drum beating competition, boat racing... Folk games imbued with the cultural identity of the land and people of the rice district such as cockfighting, eel catching, duck catching, swinging, blindfolded cooking, crossing the bridge, releasing flower lanterns... Besides, this year's Hoang Temple festival also organizes other cultural and sports activities such as: men's football competition, Yen Thanh district women's volleyball final, cultural exchange between villages in Phuc Thanh commune, Vi Dam folk song performance by the provincial art troupe, Hoang Temple beauty contest, camping contest...

Mr. Nguyen Viet Hung, Vice Chairman of Yen Thanh District People's Committee said: In recent years, the district has had many specific measures in directing the organization of festivals in general, and the Hoang Temple Festival in particular, to truly promote the role of the festival's main subject, the community, ensuring that people coming to the festival can enjoy the cultural values, while being aware of their responsibility as the subject in inheriting, continuing, creating and transmitting cultural values. In the Duc Hoang Temple Festival in 2015, the District People's Committee has, is and will continue to strongly direct the organization of the festival to ensure sacredness, solemnity, and healthy and beneficial recreational activities.

Ngo Kien