This Thuong Xuan Temple Festival...

(Baonghean) - Thuong Temple - Quynh Nghia is a large, ancient and sacred temple famous in Bai Ngang area, Quynh Luu district, second only to Con Temple - Quynh Phuong. Thuong Temple was ranked as a National Historical - Cultural Relic in 1996. Since then, nearly 20 years have passed, Thuong Temple has always been interested in embellishing and restoring the annual festival for visitors from near and far and people to come to worship, offer incense to commemorate those who have contributed to the country; marking a revolutionary place in the early days of the Party of the village and the whole Bai Ngang area, Quynh Luu district.

Panoramic view of the Upper Temple.

Regarding its revolutionary traditional value, Thuong Temple is also a place that marks many historical events during the Nghe - Tinh Soviet movement (1930 - 1931). Due to its remote location and quiet, solemn landscape, Thuong Temple was chosen as a place for the Party's secret activities in the locality, serving as a solid support for the revolutionary movement in the entire Bai Ngang area, Quynh Luu district. Here, on April 1, 1931, the Phu Nghia Thuong Village Party Cell was established with 4 Party members, with comrade Ho Hanh as secretary. Thuong Temple was also a place to hold meetings, print documents, leaflets, hang Party flags, and organize many rallies and demonstrations in response to the Nghe - Tinh Soviet movement. Specifically, there were two consecutive large rallies and demonstrations held at Thuong Temple on May 15, 1931 and June 1, 1931, attracting the participation of Phu Nghia villagers and Phu Thanh, Phu Luong, Phu Da... (now the coastal communes of Quynh Minh, Quynh Luong, Quynh Bang) and were brutally suppressed by the feudal colonial government. Many revolutionary soldiers were sacrificed, injured and imprisoned during this period.

In particular, Thuong Temple was also the place where many secret conferences were held to restore the village Party cell and Quynh Luu District Party Committee in the years 1933 - 1945, where organizations such as: Red Self-Defense, Red Farmers' Association and the establishment of the village's Viet Minh Front were established to prepare forces for the general uprising to seize power in the August Revolution of 1945. Regarding the secret conference to re-establish Quynh Luu District Party Committee, at the end of 1935, two comrades Phan Huu Khiem and Pham Dien, after receiving instructions from Nghe An Provincial Party Committee, returned to Phu Nghia village to organize a conference to re-establish Quynh Luu Party Committee at Thuong Temple, electing comrade Phan Huu Khiem as Secretary. The second time was in mid-1945, the conference to re-establish the Quynh Luu District Party Committee was also held at Thuong Temple, Phu Nghia Thuong village, electing the District Party Committee Executive Committee including comrades Nguyen Xuan Mai (Secretary), Phan Huu Khiem, Nguyen Van Phuong, Ho Huu Loi, Ho Thi Nhung, Duong Dinh Thuy... With those important events in the history of revolutionary struggle, Thuong Temple became a Revolutionary Historical Relic from the Nghe - Tinh Soviet movement (1930-1931) of Quynh Luu district.

As well as being a revolutionary historical relic, Thuong Temple is also a sacred temple, a place for spiritual activities for generations. Thuong Temple still preserves the cultural traditions of the ancient Phu Nghia village (now Quynh Nghia and Tien Thuy communes), and is the largest and most ancient place for spiritual and cultural activities in the village, since the village was named Trang Nghia Lo (10th-11th century) until now, thousands of years. In the past, the Thuong Temple Festival took place all year round on holidays and Tet, the most exciting being in the spring. The great ceremony used to be held in the years of Ty, Mao, Ngo, Dau (once every 3 years) from January 12-17, the village organized a procession of the gods from Thuong Temple to Trung Te communal house for 3 days, the procession had palanquins, dragons, swords, flags, fans, drums, gongs... with a troupe of military singers, a troupe of pretty money dancers, and teams representing the classes of scholars, farmers, workers, and merchants. During the 3 days of the festival at Trung communal house, the village organizes many nights of plays and singing such as: ca te, ca tru, chau van, hat dum... and organizes fun games such as human chess, to tom diem, du tien, and hat vi giao duyen.

The Thuong Temple Festival has many unique features that are both the colors of agricultural residents, praying for favorable weather, and mixed with the colors of the river region's culture, including the Cau Ngu Festival. The cultural features in the Thuong Temple Festival show the fusion and harmony of the "Three religions of the same origin" beliefs that are very closely intertwined and intertwined. Just talking about the gods worshiped at the Thuong Temple, the two main gods are De Thien, De Thich Than Thong and Cao Son Cao Cac, originally all were angels and natural gods, later all were personified into human gods, especially the gods De Thien and De Thich, when personified into immortals who descended to earth and were worshiped at the temple, they incarnated into Buddhas and were worshiped together in the later pagoda, called De Thich Pagoda. Immortals, gods and Buddhas are all in harmony and become the village's lucky gods, all protecting and helping the villagers have a peaceful and happy life. Since the Le Trung Hung period, the Thuong Temple also worships the three dukes of the village and during major ceremonies, the temple also worships sea gods such as: General of the Sea Hoang Ta Thon, Tu Vi Thanh Nuong... who are the guardian gods of the sea profession and are worshiped by the villagers.

After the restoration of the Thuong Temple Festival, 2015 is the fourth time the village has organized the festival (Dai Te Festival) with the desire to restore it on a larger scale, closer to the old festival. This year, on January 12, the Dai Te Festival of the Thuong Temple will for the first time partially restore the Tro Le festival, also in the Spring. This is a unique and special cultural feature of the festival of the ancient Phu Nghia village, showing the rich cultural life of the coastal countryside of Nghe An. After January, we invite you to return to the coastal countryside, to the Thuong Temple Festival to immerse yourself in the Spring festival.

Mai Ho Minh