Every year, in the 9th and 10th lunar months, people and tourists from all over the country flock to the Hoang Muoi Temple in Hung Thinh Commune, Hung Nguyen District.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Sam (a tourist from Vinh city) said: After a long time being affected by the Covid-19 epidemic, this year the Hoang Muoi Temple Festival has just been held again, our people are very excited. Not only do we come to Hoang Muoi Temple during the festival, but on days like the Full Moon, the First Day of the Lunar New Year, our family also comes to Hoang Muoi Temple.
In the hearts of the people, Mr. Hoang Muoi is a "saintly wise" among the royal mandarins of the Mother Goddess religion, admired by many people and worshiped in many localities in the country. However, the places worshiping the Four Palaces according to the Mother Goddess religion also worship Mr. Hoang Muoi, but only as a secondary worship. The main temple is in Hung Thinh commune (Hung Nguyen, Nghe An province), the temple is also called Xuan Am temple (after the place name of Xuan Am village) or Mo Hac Linh Tu (after the terrain, mountains, and rivers of feng shui theory).
The temple of Hoang Muoi is located in a beautiful landscape, with charming mountains and rivers. In front of the temple (to the South) is the Lam Giang river like a wide green silk strip, bustling with boats going up and down; around the temple is the winding and embracing Con Moc river, on both sides of the river are immense, green rice fields. Behind, on the other side of Con Moc river are Ky Lan mountain, Dung Quyet mountain and Phuong Hoang Trung Do with historical vestiges, lush pine and eucalyptus forests.
In addition to its beautiful scenery, the temple has long been famous for its sacredness with the main worshiped figure being Hoang Muoi, and also worshiping the Song Dong Ngoc Nu; the National Duke Thai Bao Phuc Quan Cong; and the General Phu Quoc Thuong Tuong Quan Nguyen Duy Lac.
The temple of Mr. Hoang Muoi was built during the Le Dynasty (17th century). Experiencing historical events, wars and natural disasters, the temple was severely damaged. The temple was restored in the late 20th century. Over the past time, together with the government, local people and tourists from all over the world, they have been constantly contributing to the construction. Up to now, all three main buildings, the Upper Palace, the Middle Palace, and the Lower Palace, have been rebuilt spaciously. Other architectural works such as the ceremonial gate, the gate, the central platform, the ladies' and boys' towers, the left and right houses, the incense burner, and the mausoleum continue to be restored and upgraded. The festival of the Temple of Mr. Hoang Muoi has gone beyond the scope of a village and a region, attracting many tourists from the South and the North to attend.
The Hoang Muoi Temple Festival is an occasion to honor traditional cultural values, educate love for homeland, country and the morality of "When drinking water, remember its source". At the same time, this is an opportunity for visitors from all over to make a pilgrimage to Hung Nguyen - a land with cultural, historical, patriotic and revolutionary traditions, the place that has produced and nurtured many talented people, scholars, many steadfast and heroic examples whose lives and careers have brought glory to their homeland and country.
The 2022 Ong Hoang Muoi Temple Festival takes place from the 9th to the 10th of the 10th lunar month, but before that, throughout the 9th and early 10th lunar month, the temple welcomed thousands of visitors every day on average. The largest number of visitors are still from the northern provinces such as Hanoi, Cao Bang, Lang Son, Ninh Binh...
Ms. Hoang Hong Hanh - a tourist from Ninh Binh said: This year, when I came to Hoang Muoi Temple, I found the temple landscape very clean, beautiful and orderly. The service attitude of the temple management board is also more professional. For my family, Hoang Muoi Temple is the place we always return to on our pilgrimage to the spiritual cultural heritage.
Talking with Ms. Hoang Thi Hoai Thanh - Head of the Department of Culture - Information of Hung Nguyen district, we learned that the festival of Ong Hoang Muoi temple is one of 29 provincial festivals. Therefore, Hung Nguyen district determined that the organization of the festival must be large-scale, ensuring solemnity, safety, and economy, ensuring both spiritual elements and preserving ancient traditions. Therefore, this year, in addition to the 5 traditional rituals, the procession will be organized on a large scale by both waterway and road from the Nguyen family temple in Xuan Am village to Ong Hoang Muoi temple (about 400 people participating; 4 dragon boats, 12 three-board boats decorated with national flags, colorful festival flags, drums, palanquins, parasols, unicorns)...
The impressive highlight is the night of releasing flower lanterns on the Moc River, creating a sparkling, magical atmosphere for the festival. This year's festival is also organized more richly: A night of mass cultural exchange between Nghe Tinh folk song clubs and Giam clubs between localities in the district; sports competitions such as women's volleyball, boat racing, tug of war, etc. of athletes from communes, in addition to the participation of neighboring districts Nam Dan, Yen Thanh, Do Luong. All activities are organized right at the Temple area to both meet spiritual and cultural needs and preserve and promote the traditional cultural beauty of the Festival.
It can be affirmed that along with the festivals in the province, the annual Hoang Muoi Temple Festival has become a spiritual festival of great importance in the hearts of the people and tourists from all over the world. With the admiration of the people for Hoang Muoi and the unique landscape and environment, the Hoang Muoi Temple relic together with the Quang Trung King Temple, Quyet Mountain, and Phuong Hoang Trung Do are attractive destinations in the Lam River tourism tour of Nghe An province.
In order to promote and further spread the value of the intangible cultural heritage of the Hoang Muoi Temple Festival, Hung Nguyen district has recently advised the Provincial People's Committee to approve the Project "Preservation, restoration and expansion of the Hoang Muoi Temple historical and cultural relic". The project is planned with a total construction area of 13.68 hectares, including 4 areas: spiritual area, service area, festival area and landscape green area.
Currently, the Project Phase 1 is being implemented with a total investment of over 115 billion VND, the main funding is from donations and socialization. The items of Phase 01 of the Project are nearly completed, namely the Spiritual Area and the Service Area. The district is continuing to call for socialization for other construction items to be implemented as soon as possible.
In addition, the district also focuses on promoting the image and value of the relic, along with other relics in the area such as the General Secretary Le Hong Phong Memorial Site, the Nghe Tinh Soviet Relic Site, the Nguyen Truong To Memorial Site, King Le Temple, etc. to promote the value of the entire relic system in the district.
In the coming years, Hung Nguyen will continue to improve its planning, focus on investing in infrastructure construction for tourism development; strengthen state management, and build attractive tourism products to attract tourists. Focus on promoting the value of the system of historical and cultural relics, exploiting spiritual and cultural tourism. Strengthen propaganda and promotion activities to attract more and more tourists to Hung Nguyen to develop the tourism industry, contributing to increasing the socio-economic development speed of the district.
