The 'innovation' of the Tet pole in Nghe An!

Every spring and Tet, Vietnamese people in general and Nghe An people (including Nghe An and Ha Tinh) in particular, whether living or studying in their homeland or in any other country or ethnic group in the world, remember the story "The Legend of the Neu Tree".

Because, following the historical flow of building, developing and defending the nation from the time of the Hung Kings and King An Duong Vuong associated with the birth and longevity of the Van Lang - Au Lac state (at least in the minds and intelligence of the successive generations of Lac - Hong descendants), until the period of the explosion of the 4.0 scientific and technological revolution in the early 21st century, the treasure trove of "Vietnamese fairy tales" in general, "The Legend of the Pole" in particular, has permeated the blood and flesh and become invaluable spiritual and cultural heritages.

Based on the results of Buddhist research, Nghe An is considered the origin of the flow of Vietnamese Buddhist history and culture. The first Buddhists were Chu Dong Tu and Tien Dung, who became the Four Immortals in the beliefs of the Vietnamese people for thousands of years.

Tet pole in Nghe An. Photo: Huy Thu

The existence of the story "The Legend of the Pole" from the perspective of geo-history and culture can be seen: The Vietnamese people's wet rice agricultural civilization at that time had developed to its peak. Vietnamese people could grow rice (to eliminate the devil's ambition when promising to give people the rice shoots while the devil only took the rice roots, or grow sweet potatoes to defeat the devil's ambition when promising to give people the roots while the devil only took the shoots, or grow corn to completely eliminate the devil's ambition to take both the roots and shoots, leaving only the trunk for people!.

History, culture of planting and loweringflagpoleGenerations of Nghe people in particular, and Vietnam in general, have experienced ups and downs in the face of changes in national history. For example, during the two resistance wars against French colonialism (1945-1954), against American imperialism (1954-1975) until the end of the 1980s of the last century, due to many different subjective and objective reasons, the image of the pole erected in the village fields, near the dirt road to the village, commune along the left and right banks of Lam River, La River on December 23 every year,... seemed to only exist in the memories of the elderly or in the lectures of teachers during Literature lessons in class, or on the pages of books.

Not only are the streets brilliant these days before Tet, the village alleys are also decorated with poles combined with extremely colorful LED lights. Photo courtesy of Duc Anh

Along with the country's renovation, many material and spiritual cultural values ​​of our ancestors that seemed to have disappeared have been revived. The history and culture of planting the Tet pole in Nghe An has also been restored, developed and has had a multi-dimensional influence on the cultural and spiritual life of everyone, every family from the districts, towns and cities of the coastal plains such as Quynh Luu, Hoang Mai town, Dien Chau, Yen Thanh, Nghi Loc, Cua Lo town, Vinh city, Hung Nguyen (Nghe An)... to Nghi Xuan, Thach Ha, Cam Xuyen, Ky Anh (Ha Tinh),... to the mountainous districts in the West such as Quy Chau, Que Phong, Tuong Duong, Ky Son... (Nghe An)...; Huong Son, Huong Khe, Vu Quang (Ha Tinh). However, the history and culture of planting and lowering the Tet pole of Nghe people in modern times have many differences compared to before the August Revolution in 1945, which many people have not paid much attention to or researched for a long time.

For example, in the past, residents of villages, communes, and wards in Nghe An province often planted only one pole in each village or commune. The location of the pole was often chosen so that most households in the village or commune could see it. The pole was chosen from a bamboo tree, with regular joints, and free of worms and ants (ant eyes). On top of the pole, there could be a terracotta bell so that when the wind shook, it would make a sound to scare away demons (according to beliefs). In addition, people could also tie a bunch of pandan leaves (Nghe An people call it wild pineapple) or a branch of a banyan tree to scare demons away from competing with humans for the village or commune's land. There are some villages, communes, wards and towns in the Lam River basin that draw arrows pointing to the East and sprinkle lime powder and even dog blood on the ground to completely ban demons from entering the village during Tet, with the strong belief that all members of the village and commune are protected by Buddha, avoiding all disturbances from evil demons during the Spring and Tet holidays, and every family enjoys Spring and welcomes Tet in peace and prosperity.

In previous years, people in the mountainous areas often erected poles and hung flags on top of them to decorate for Tet. However, this year they did not do so but hung lanterns instead of flags. People here said that knowing that in previous years they often hung flags on poles, every time there was wind, the flags would get twisted, losing the beauty and especially the solemnity of the Party flag and the national flag. Photo taken at Cua Rao 2 village, Xa Luong commune. Photo courtesy of Dinh Tuan.

The village and commune take care of setting up the pole, while the households in the village take care of cleaning the kitchen fire, going to the market to buy carp, clothes, and gold coins for the three chefs (Tao Quan), then hurry home to make offerings to Tao Quan, releasing fish so that they can ride the carp and turn into dragons to Heaven to report to the Jade Emperor before noon on the 23rd day of the 12th lunar month (Mr. Tao ascends, returns to Heaven),... On the 7th day of the first lunar month, the Nghe people hold a Tet ceremony to lower the pole, welcome Mr. Tao back home, and lower the village pole planted in front of the village field.

In the first two decades of the 21st century, from Quynh Luu district to Ky Anh, up to Vu Quang, Huong Khe, Huong Son, Thanh Chuong, Ky Son, Tuong Duong, Quy Chau, Que Phong,... instead of each village planting a pole, every house planted a pole right in front of the door. The pole is mainly made of bamboo, with a lantern hanging on the top, next to it is the Vietnamese national flag, the whole pole is decorated with flashing lights of various colors: green, red, purple, yellow,... Many households do not use bamboo but use square or round steel to make the pole.

The time to erect the pole is also different in each household. For many different reasons, many Nghe households do not finish erecting the pole until the 26th or 27th of December. And the time to take down the pole can now be the end of January, and many Nghe households even wait until the end of spring to take down the pole, even though on January 7 they still hold a Tet ceremony to lower the pole and welcome the Kitchen God home.

Near Tet, many people erect poles according to traditional customs. Photo courtesy of Huy Thu

Along with the day of erecting the pole (December 23 of the lunar calendar), Nghe people worship Ong Bep (the worship of the Fire God) with the wish for a Spring to bring a prosperous and peaceful life to everyone, every family and the whole village and commune community. As for releasing carp, in addition to the meaning of releasing animals (related to Buddhism), the worship of the Fire God, it is also associated with the story of carp overcoming the Dragon Gate to become a dragon, symbolizing the tradition of studiousness, hard work and success of generations of students in Nghe An past and present. Villages and communes erect a pole, or each household erects a pole, every family worships to see off Ong Tao, releases fish,... all taking place in just one day out of 365 days of the year but containing a multi-layered historical and cultural value and is truly one of the cultural beauties every Spring and Tet in the cultural space of Nghe An in particular and more broadly, the South, the land of Vietnam past - present and forever.