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 Home●Festivals●Alphabetical●Phu Nhieu
- Thap Binh |
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Festivals
- Phu Nhieu |
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The Festival lasts from 15th to 18th of August and involves religious
ceremonies, a boat contest in the lake facing the communal house, and 'Cua Dinh'
song performances, a local folk song with original features and tunes. |
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Festivals
- Quan Lan Village Boat Festival |
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Quan Lan is an island lying in the Bay of Bai Tu Long, where vast mountains, sea
and land combine to form a perfect scene in a rarely prosperous land.
Nearly one
thousand years ago, Quan Lan was the centre of Van Don commercial port, a very
busy harbour which received many foreign trading ships.
Quang Lan is part of the
Van Hai archipelago, in Cam Pha District, Quang Ninh Province some 120 kilometres from Hai Phong, 55 kilometres from Hong Gai and 35 kilometres from Cua Ong
Port in Quang Ninh Province.
Each year Quan Lan Village holds a festival of rowing on lunar June 18th, but in actuality the festival lasts from
lunar June 16th to 26th. This is
either the annual celebration of a victory over Yuan enemy in 1288 or the festival
of fishermen.
The festival of rowing is usually held at the beach at
Ben Dinh where there is a village Communal House. This house was built to
worship the Village Tutelary God Tran Khanh Du, a famous general of the Tran
Dynasty who defended Van Don for many years and once achieved a well-known
victory that destroyed the whole fleet of supply ships of the aggressors in
early 1288, contributing an important part to ViętNam's victory.
He was loved by
the villagers and honoured as Village Tutelary God. There is a
temple to worship Pham Cong Chinh, the eldest of the three brothers who were
all the villagers and inferiors of general Tran Khanh Du, nearby. He was killed during a
battle with the Chinese aggressors. Another temple for the God of the
Soil stands near the Communal House.
Quan Lan has five main hamlets and three smaller ones. In preparation for the
festival, Quan Lan is divided into two guilds - eastern and western.
Each guild
includes three groups which are called Dong - Nam - Van in the Eastern guild and Doai - Bac - Vo in the Western guild. The number of people in each groups may
vary in number from 10 to 20, corresponding to the number of fathers who have gut sons
aged between 1 and 3 in the village Those fathers are asked to participate and
contribute money to hold the festival. The amount of money available is dependent
upon the number of sons.
On lunar June 10th the village is closed. Villagers are not permitted to go anywhere
and those who do
not abide with the rule may have their boats burned. Villagers working far
from home and guests to come and prepare for the festival.
On lunar June 13th each group chooses a place, it may be the house of a group
member, to meet
and discuss the contribution of money and preparations for the festival.
On lunar June 14th the group holds a party, in which, the secretary of the group as well as strong,
active, rowers are chosen to go to receive the God, and to represent the group.
Usually, ten men are chosen, but more can be chosen in
larger group. The number of holding oars in each guild may range from 25 to
30. The people who hold flags, fans, drums bring the total to 40 or 50.
Each guild has to nominate people to play the role of commander or civil
mandarin. The Eastern guild usually the nominates civil mandarin and the Western
guild the commander.
On lunar June 15th each guild makes arrangements for its own boats, oars, drums, gongs and people.
Each boat is usually repainted and has dragon head painted on it.
On lunar
June 16th: the Master of Ceremonies, the village chief, together
with the notables of the village, the generals and the soldiers, represented by
the rowers,
gather at the village Communal House to go to welcome the God.
Upon arrival at Nghe, some1.5 kilometres from the Communal House, where the ancestral tablets of Tran Khanh Du
are displayed, the Master of Ceremonies presents a tray of
chicken, steamed glutinous rice, wine and fruit, to the altar then the
ancestral tablets of Tran Khanh Du are carried in the sedan chair to the Communal
House and |
placed it on the altar inside the house. This
invites the God to
witness the festival.
At two o'clock on the morning of lunar June 17th the god-offering ceremony is held at
the Communal House. The ancestral tablets of the gods are placed on the altar in
the smoke of burning incense and fragrance of fruit. This ceremony
is also held simultaneously at the altars of the other temples.
On lunar June 18th, at 08.00H, in the temple
nearby the Communal House, a ceremony for PHAM Cong Chinh commences where the civil mandarin and the commander
each receive one slick of incense from the altars on either side of
the temple who carry it to the altar of their guild to worship.
They have
a party, preparing for the festival. At 16.00H, when the tide
rises near the Communal House, the two sides set out drumming and waving flags.
The generals and the troops are in uniform, Doug Nam Van guild usually in white
and Doai Bac Vu in black; the generals must wear the ceremonial dress of a
mandarin, and those bearing oars, poles and drums must be dressed in uniform, as well.
They go to the Temple of the Divine Being and after the village chief and the
two generals have worshipped in the temple, both sides deploy troops. People
gather on the river banks to watch and cheer.
The two generals order their
troops to board the boats with the Eastern guild sailing the East then
facing West; boats of the Western guild sail West then face
East. This is repeated three limes, after which they return to the Temple of Divine
Being. The two generals stand on the prow of each boat, solemnly facing the temple. Inside the boats, weak rowers
are replaced with fresh crew.
Drums sound and bright-coloured flags are waved. The general representing Dong Nam Van reads the
proclamation first, then calls the general of Doai Bac Vo.
The contents of the
proclamation beg the gods to protect and assist the villagers so that
they will have good health and a prosperous life and that their troops will win any battle. Then they
board the boats. Only one boat from each side takes
part in the competition.
The others will supervise and defend them. Some
1,500 metres from the Temple of Divine Being is a marker where
two flags are displayed with two referees watching. The competing boats arrive at
the marker, and each boat picks up a flag and exchanges it with the other side.
Then the competition begins.
The key thing is the ability to turn the boat
quickly, skillfully and taking advantage of any wind. The boats speed to the
landing pier, the first to arrive is declared the winner. The successful 'troops' carry their general to a pole in front of the Temple of
Divine Being, where the
award, a bundle of money tied in red handkerchief, is hung.
The general touches
the award, to the accompaniment of applause of spectators. Both generals go to
worship gods in the temple, then the referees give awards to both sides, the
winners award is a sum of money five times more than the loser's.
In addition to the festival of rowing held on June 18th, between lunar June 16th to
26th, there are many other games such as tug of war, swing,
chess, performances of popular opera or classical opera, and, in recent years,
sports held in the village.
On lunar June 19th the leaders of the two guilds prepare a tray of food and two colourful paper
boats for the June 20th ceremony.
On lunar June 20th the
Peace Prayer ceremony is held. Early in the morning, village chiefs gather at the
Communal House.
A witch doctor is invited, a tray of food is placed on a
stage in front of the Communal House. After the witch doctor makes
offerings, troops who took part in the festival quickly carry the boats
through the village.
They pray to the gods, then burn the boats. The villagers have a party then
carry the ancestral tablets of Village Tutelary God back to the little temple. |
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Festivals
- Sao Den |
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| The Festival which is held from 20th to 25th of
lunar March, commemorates Mrs Ngo Thi
Ngoc Giao, mother of King Le Thanh Tong. Ii involves a palanquin procession and
folk games. |
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Festivals
- Song Temple |
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| The Festival is held on
lunar March 15, to commemorate Lieu Hanh Princess, and
involves religious ceremonies. |
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Festivals
- Tam Tong |
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| The Festival has no fixed scheduled date, but is held when there is a serious
drought. It involve a boat-cum-swimming contest, with each canton supplying
three boats, designed to awaken the Heavens and call for rains... for
agricultural production. |
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Festivals
- Tay Phuong Pagoda |
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| The Festival is held on
lunar March 6, and involves Buddhist ceremonies, ceremonies
for beseeching blessings and luck. The pagoda is famous for the architectural
products of the Le Dynasty and wood sculptures (statues, columns and beams in
pagodas). |
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Festivals
Than Temple |
| The Festival is also called as the Mo Temple Festival, as 'Mo' is the common
name of Dai Than village. The festival is held lunar October 6th to 11th, and
commemorates General Cao Lo who helped |
King An Duong Vuong in building up the Co
Loa fortress and ramparts. It involves a shield dance, a dragon dance,
wrestling, a 'tiger fighting' game. |
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Festivals - Thap Binh |
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The ten villages worship Doan Cong, Dao Nuong who were two able commanders of
the Trung Sisters as a married couple. The Festival is held once every 4 years
from the 6th to the 10th of February.
It involves a joint procession |
of the tablets of the two geniuses, followed by separate festivals in each
village, with mock battle designed to revive the atmosphere of the war fought by
the insurrectionist army. |
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