The First Temple

From Vinh city center, follow National Highway 1A about 40m, to Dien Chau intersection, turn left along National Highway 7A about 7km, turn right along the inter-commune road about 3km to the beginning of Tan Phong village, turn right along the inter-village road 200m to reach the relic.

The First Temple was built during the Le Dynasty to worship King Sat Hai Hoang Ta Thon. According to the Hoang family genealogy in Van Phan (now Dien Van commune, Dien Chau district, Nghe An province) and the stele "Nam Mieu ton than su tich" compiled by the General Director of the National History Institute Cao Xuan Duc, and some other local documents, King Sat Hai's real name was Hoang Ta Thon, his pen name was To Dai Lieu, born on April 15, 1254 (the year of Giap Dan) in Van Phan village, Dien Chau district. His mother was from the Truong family in Ly Trai village.

Legend has it that one early morning, Mrs. Truong went to the river to fetch water and suddenly saw two buffaloes jump out of the water and butt each other. They rushed towards her, she used her carrying pole to chase them away, and suddenly the two buffaloes disappeared.

But a buffalo hair stuck to the end of the carrying pole and fell into the water tank. She drank it and felt unusual. From then on, she became pregnant and shortly after gave birth to a handsome boy, named Hoang Ta Thon. When Hoang Ta Thon grew up, he was stronger than other people, good at wrestling, no young man in the area could match him, especially good at swimming.

Hoang Ta Thon grew up when the country was invaded by the Mongols. Because he was talented in swimming, martial arts, intelligent, and resourceful, he was recruited by Hung Dao Vuong Tran Quoc Tuan into the royal navy and hired as a "Noi Thu Gia" (military secretary).

In the autumn of August 1284, King Hung Dao held a general review of the troops at Dong Bo Dau wharf.Hoang Ta Thonwas assigned the task of "managing the fierce wolf army" to guard key locations. During battles with the enemy, he and his comrades dived into the river to drill holes in enemy boats, sinking hundreds of them.

The Yuan army was terrified and fled in disarray. Toa Do was beheaded, Thoat Hoan had to hide in a copper tube to escape, and O Ma Nhi used a small boat to cross the sea to escape. From then on, he became a close assistant of Hung Dao Vuong.

After two failed invasions of Dai Viet, in March of the year Binh Tuat (1286), the Yuan army decided to invade our country again. This time, Hoang Ta Thon was again assigned by the court to command the "wild wolf" naval army. The war lasted for two years (1286-1288), resulting in a resounding victory, the Bach Dang battle in the year Mau Ty, which was likened to the Battle of Xich Bich, causing the Yuan army to be terrified and abandon their intention to invade Dai Viet.

After the country was cleared of enemies, the court awarded him with merits. King Tran Nhan Tong appointed Hoang Ta Thon as Sat Hai Chang Lai Dai Tuong Quan, and gave him the title "Minh Tu" to command the navy to guard 12 seaports, protecting the coastal area. From then on, day and night he trained and taught soldiers to become the best sailors. On March 15, 1339, on the way to patrol the sea from Thanh Hoa to Cua Trao, Hoang Hoa district, he passed away.

Upon hearing the news, the court posthumously honored him as Generalissimo of the Heavenly Tomb, ordered a dragon boat to carry his coffin back to his hometown of Van Phan for burial in Ma Chay and built a temple there. Later, all dynasties bestowed upon him the titles of "Great King of the Sea, Commander of the Mighty Lang, Great General of the Heavenly Tomb, Great Supreme God", "Local God of the City, Bao Duc, Phuc Than, Commander of the Mighty Lang, Thai Minh, Helping the Nation, Making Great Progress, Spreading Good Fortune, Great King of the Nation; ...

Remembering his great contributions, people everywhere in coastal areas established temples.templeSuch as: Nghi Loc, Quynh Luu, Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh, Ninh Binh, Thai Binh, Hai Phong, Khanh Hoa, Ninh Thuan...

In times of natural disasters, droughts, and epidemics, the royal court ordered the people of the surrounding area to bring the gods to the First Temple to set up an altar to pray for rain. Currently, in addition to worshiping the Great King of the Sea, the First Temple also worships other Buddhas such as:

The statue of Bodhisattva Guanyin was brought from the temple of De Nhat village to the temple. In the past, De Nhat village had very few men, so the villagers here built a temple to worship Buddha to pray for more men. What is special is that this temple only worships Bodhisattva Guanyin. In 1976, the cooperative built a new road to the temple yard, the temple was demolished to make a granary, the people here brought the statue of Bodhisattva Guanyin to De Nhat temple.

Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva is a being who has attained the state of equal enlightenment for countless eons. He made a great vow that if he had not yet saved all sentient beings, he would not attain Bodhi. Because of this vow, he incarnated himself many times to save sentient beings from the sea of ​​suffering. Every year, the Buddhist community celebrates Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva's birthday on the 30th day of the 7th lunar month.

Since 1949, due to war and natural disasters, many Buddhas, saints, and gods in temples, pagodas, and neighboring communes such as Dien Nguyen, Dien Dong, Dien Lien, Dien Thai... were worshiped by the people at the First Temple. Therefore, many other gods and Buddhas are worshiped here such as: Dong Phuong Thai Giam, Bac Phuong Thai Giam, Confucius, Hung Dao Dai Vuong, Tam Toa Thanh Mau, Mau De Nhat Thuong Thien, Mau De Nhi Thuong Ngan, Mau De Tam Thoai Phu, Song Dong Ngoc Nu, Dong Phu village's local tutelary god, Dong Phu village's local spirit, Ngo Vuong Thuong Dang Chinh Than of Thu Phu village, Thong Due Ton Than of Thu Phu village, Linh Huu of Thu Phu village, Ta Thanh Tra, Huu Giam Sat, ...

The First Temple is not only a spiritual architectural work but also a place that marks many important historical events of the locality in particular and of the nation in general.

During the Can Vuong movement, De Nhat village was the base of the army of the mandarin Nguyen Xuan On. It was here that the mandarin organized a fundraiser, and the people of De Nhat village participated in supporting him greatly. The total amount of support from De Nhat village was the largest in the region. After that, many times when the mandarin visited the soldiers, he stopped to rest and burn incense to pray for the gods' protection.

In 1928, comrade Vo Nguyen Hien was sent by the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association to build a base in Dien Chau. From the base in Hau Luat (Dien Binh), he expanded to De Nhat village (Dien Nguyen).

After the Dien Chau District Party Committee was established, the First Village Party Cell - one of the first two Communist Party Cells in Dien Chau - was also established at the First Temple.

During the Nghe Tinh Soviet movement of 1930-1931, realizing that the First Temple was a private place, densely forested, far from residential areas, and a sacred place that few people would offend, the Party Cell of the First Village chose this place as a meeting place to discuss plans of activities. The First Temple was also the place where Party documents were printed, and where the Party flag was hung in front of the temple gate on May 1, 1930.

On August 20, 1945, the people of Dien Nguyen under the leadership of the Party rose up to seize power. At the First Temple, the village chief handed over the seal, books, and documents to the revolutionary government.

On August 21, 1945, the people of De Nhat village gathered at the temple yard, then together with the people of Thai Xa village went to arrest the gang leader Huu Tran, the demonstration group moved down to coordinate with the people of the whole district to protest and fight to seize power, establishing the Viet Minh government.

On September 4, 1945, President Ho Chi Minh, on behalf of the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, launched the “golden week”. Responding to his call, a large number of people from De Nhat village gathered at the yard of De Nhat temple to donate money, gold, and silver.

During the two sacred resistance wars against the French and the Americans to save the country, the First Temple became a place to store weapons and ammunition, a place to gather militia and self-defense forces, a place to welcome soldiers returning to the village, a place to recruit new party members, and a place to gather people to propagate the revolution.

The First Temple is a place of spiritual and cultural activities for the people of the First village in particular and Dien Nguyen commune and neighboring areas in general.

Every year at the First Temple, there are big festivals such as: Khai Ha Festival held on the 7th day of the first lunar month. Thuong Nguyen Festival, also known as Nguyen Tieu Festival, is a ceremony to pray for peace and ward off bad luck at the beginning of the year, held on 2 days (14th and 15th of the first lunar month). Dua Nhuong Festival, Thanh Minh Festival are held on the occasion of Thanh Minh Festival, Buddha's Birthday, Ky Phuc Festival, Trung Nguyen Festival, Dinh Festival, Thuong Tieu Festival...

The biggest is the Death Anniversary of King Sat Hai Hoang Ta Thon, held on the 15th day of the third lunar month (from March 14-15). The main ceremony is held from 9:00 a.m. on March 15 to 11:00 a.m. Currently, the death anniversary is held very solemnly by the people of De Nhat village, attracting not only the local people but also many tourists from all over. This is considered one of the most important festivals of De Nhat village.

De Nhat Temple is a spiritual architectural work built during the Le Dynasty, located at the beginning of De Nhat village, including the following works: Tam Quan gate, Thuong Dien, well and Van Hoi stele.

The main gate was built in the style of a 3-story, 8-roofed, stepped-up gate, gradually sloping upwards. The first floor was built in the style of a citadel gate, with a rounded archway. Above the threshold is a fierce tiger. On both sides are reliefs of 2 phoenixes spreading their wings facing the middle.

Adjacent to the front of the first floor are two wings with reliefs of two generals guarding the gate, the left civil and right military. Adjacent to the wings is a pillar, made in the style of a square pillar with a tapered base, on top is a carved star fruit shaped like a star fruit with four sides, three sides of the pillar have parallel sentences.

The second floor is smaller than the first floor, the structure is similar to the first floor but the door is no longer arched but has a square door, with geometric patterns as a dome door. Above the second floor is a roof system, covered with scale tiles, 4 curved roof edges with 4 dragons facing 4 directions.

The third floor is the top floor, the structure is similar to the first and second floors. In the middle of the Tam Quan roof is a sun-shaped sculpture, the two ends of the clamp are carved with spiral cloud patterns.

Entering is the temple well, located on the east side of the temple, on the grounds of the holy house.

The Van Hoi stele is located to the west of the temple. It has a rectangular shape, the border has stylized flowers and leaves, and in the middle of the stele is engraved the content of the stele text.

The temple yard is paved with cement, this is the open-air yard between the central and lower shrines. Next is the garden planted with shade trees such as: Bodhi, Sanh, Ficus, Eucalyptus...

The main hall is located in the innermost part of the house, a 2-room, 3-rafter house, arranged into 3 worshiping areas. The main hall in the middle consists of 2 rooms. The outer room is decorated with 3 layers of incense tables and altars, followed by 2 ancient altars made of jackfruit wood, painted red. On the altar is an ancient lotus throne, with 2 candlesticks on both sides, and in the middle is a statue of Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha. The inner room is a worshiping bed placed on a main pillar, arranged with 2 worshiping areas. The outer altar is decorated with the statues of Inspector and Supervisor. The inner room is the long khach, the long khach is where the memorial tablet of Sat Hai Dai Vuong Hoang Ta Thon is placed. The left palace is decorated with 2 altars of equal height. The first altar has an incense bowl, the second altar has the memorial tablets of the gods.

In the middle is the tablet of the Eastern Eunuch, on both sides are the tablets of the local Trung Phong But Giang, the local Hien Quang Linh Ung, the local Ho Quoc Cong, the local Thanh Hoang, and the local Thanh Hoang Linh Huu. The right palace worships the Northern Eunuch, the Ngo Vuong Thuong Dang Chinh Than, the local Thanh Hoang, the Western Eunuch, and the local Long Quan Chua Mach.

Having existed for hundreds of years, De Nhat Temple is a typical long-standing cultural and spiritual work of the people of Dien Nguyen commune in particular and the whole region in general. This is the place that marks and witnesses many historical events as well as cultural and religious activities of the local people for many centuries. Therefore, every year, on important holidays, people from around the region come to attend in large numbers. It also shows the gratitude and tradition of "When drinking water, remember its source" of the nation, contributing to educating moral character for today's and future generations.

Nghe Tinh Soviet Museum