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 Home●Festivals●Alphabetical●Tran Tay
- Yet Kieu Temple |
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Festivals -
Tran Tay |
Every year, at the beginning of Spring, Tran Tay Festival is held on lunar
February 2, in Voi Phuc
(Prostrating Elephant) Temple, which is located in Ba Dinh district of Ha Noi, to
worship Genie Linh Lang, who helped the Viętnamese people fight the enemy for
national salvation.
The legend says, Linh Lang was a son of Long Quan (Dragon King). He was
reincarnated as the fourth prince of King Ly Thanh Tong (1054-1072).
When he
was born, he had a pleasant appearance with big eyes, beautiful eyebrows, a square
jaw, and a robust body.
On that day the weather was fine with fresh air and
fragrant breezes. When the Song enemy, led by Huang Youngzheng, invaded the
country with an earth-shaking force, the King had to send an envoy to look for
heroes to save the country.
Linh Lang asked the court to provide a herd of
elephants and a large 10 metre-long staffed flag for him to fight the enemy. When the
biggest elephant saw him, it prostrated itself to salute him (later the people
built a temple here and named it Voi Phuc, or Prostrating Elephant).
Waving the
flag, Linh Lang rode the elephant against the Song troops. The invaders were
frightened out of their wits and ran away. Peace |
returned to the country.
Suddenly Linh Lang fell ill and later died. On the day he passed away, it was
dark and there was a violent storm. Linh Lang lay on the ground with his head
resting on a stone and turned into a huge white snake and crawled into West
Lake.
Offering Wine to the Genie
The Viętnamese celebrate the day when Genie Linh Lang became a snake on
lunar February 2, with the Tran Tay Festival, the biggest in Thang Long Capital
(Ha Noi).
On this occasion, many people from distant provinces came to worship
the Genie, because it is said that at this temple all the good that people pray
for will be realised. Folk games are also held at the festival, such as boat
racing, cock fighting, duck catching, folk song singing, and terracotta
pot breaking.
Built in 1605 to worship the Genie, who rendered glorious service to the
country, Voi Phuc Temple is worthy of being one of the first ten works in Ha Noi
to be classified as a historical and cultural relic.
According to the eastern
rules of wind and water, the Temple was built on the finest and most sacred area
at one of the four gates of Thang Long Capital. It lay on a hill surrounded by
the Nhi Ha River and there was a luxuriant green bamboo forest behind. |
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Festivals
- Trung Do |
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| The Festival is held to commemorate Ly Bon, the leader of a national rebellion.
It involves the 'phet' ball game. |
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Festivals
- Truong Yen |
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This
festival runs from lunar March 9th to 11th, and commemorates Dinh Bo Linh,
alias King Dinh Tien Hoang, the national hero who quelled the
rebellion of 12 vassals and unifying the country. It involves, among other
things, a mock battle with reed plants as flags, a display of Chinese
characters, and more.
The Truong Yen Festival (also called Dinh-Le Kings Temples Festival) takes place on the 10th
of the third lunar month, in Hoa Lu, the ancient capital of the Dai Co Vięt
Kingdom of ViętNam (10th century AD), in honour of Dinh and Le Kings.
The festival starts with a water procession, which leaves from the Dinh King's
Temple, with colourful flags, the royal chair and a jar of holy water, to go to
the Hoang Long River (Golden Dragon River) to take some water and finally return
to the temple.
After the ceremonies of worship held in both Dinh King and Le King Temples,
visitors can burn joss sticks and visit ancient architectural structures of the
ancient capital.
Several traditional games are played during the festival. For |
example, 'Lau flag' (Reed flower) is a game that comprises of performing the same manoeuvres
young hero Dinh Bo Linh accomplished during his childhood.
The participants comprise a group of 100 boys and are split into two opposing
camps engaged in a mock battle. In recent years the conclusion of the festival has
been marked by fireworks at Buffalo Cave, near the Ma Yen
Mountain.
The first display of fireworks simulates an image of a group of dancing
people clad in clothes decorated with birds' feathers symbolising a nation in
peace.
The second display of fireworks simulates images of a mock battle with
reed flags, whilst the third display provides the pictures of Dinh Bo Linh clad in a royal
dress, riding a dragon and overlying the Hoang Long River in order to establish
the first Royal Court of ViętNam.
The fourth and final display involves big sky-rockets which depict 9 dragons greeting a flag bearing the
words 'Thai Binh', the dynastic title of Dinh Tien Hoang King. |
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Festivals
- Tuan Tranh Temple |
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The Festival is held on lunar February 25, to commemorate the Snake Genius who is
supposed to rule over the Tranh River. It involves processions, religious
ceremonies, and folk games. |
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Festivals
- Xuan Dong |
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| The Festival is held on
lunar March 15, at the end of Spring. Ii involves folk song
performances of the Tay, Nung, Dao ethnic groups. |
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Festivals
- Xuan Pha |
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The Festival is held on February 10 in honour of Dai Hai Long Vuong, a deity
ruling over the sea. Beside a procession and religious ceremonies, the festival |
'involves some theatrical plays and games of former Champa Kingdom, Laos, China,
Holland, and the Luc Hon Nhung play. |
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Festivals - Yen Tu |
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The Yen Tu Pagoda Festival is celebrated between Jan 15 to Mar 15 (lunar
calendar) in Quang Ninh Province - located in the northeastern part of ViętNam.
Yen Tu is the name of a 1,068 metre high mountain,
some 15 kilometres to the northwest of Uong Bi, the provincial capital.
It is the birth place of Truc Lam, a Buddhist sect founded by
ViętNam's King Tran Nhan Tong (1258-1308). Yen Tu has a beautiful scenery but
is very difficult to access, with a myriad of brooks, steep slopes, deep
abysses, and small winding lanes leading, through forest of fir trees, to its
cloudy top.
The first scenic spot that comes to sight is the Suoi Tam Brook, where King Tran Nhan Tong,
in passage to Yen Tu mountain from the Capital, had to stop and take
a bath in order to get rid of all the dust of the world of human beings.
Close by Suoi Tam, is the Cam Thuc Pagoda where the King had his first
vegetarian meal, consisting of plain rice cooked with the water in the brook and
vegetables gathered on the spot.
Proceeding further, the ruins of the Lan Pagoda lie with, among other things, a
dozen stupas and some stelae. Crossing the Elephant Pass, the
Clearing Unjust Charges Pagoda, is reached near a brook of the same name.
The Pagoda and the brook are associated with a certain legend which claims: When
King Tran Nhan Tong left the throne for Yen Tu Mountain, a number of royal maids
volunteered to accompany him.
Upon arrival, he ordered them to return
home. Demonstrating their faithfulness to the King, the maids jumped into the brook
and whilst some drowned, many others were saved by the local population only to
settle down in the region.
Nuong Village, now part of Thuong Yen Cong commune, was established. The King was deeply moved and organised a
ceremony to clear unjust charges toward the dead. The Pagoda
was established near the brook.
The lane leads the visitor to the Hon Ngoc (Emerald) garden in which is
located the Main Stupa, reportedly containing the ashes of King Tran Nhan
Tong. The stupa is located on a square land area some 13 metres, and surrounded
on four sides by 2 metre-high walls made of dark over-baked bricks, whose outer edges
simulate sea waves.
The southern and northern walls have
vaulted doors mounted in them. The road leading from the northern door to the mountain top
is paved with big-size square bricks, with decorative designs in the form of
chrysanthemum flowers and concentric circles.
Outside the walls are 44 other stupas dedicated to 44 members of the Tran Royal family who have led a religious
life to the end in Yen Tu pagoda area.
Positioned to rear of the Main Stupas is the Hoa Yen Pagoda, whose base is higher by
some 7 or 8 metres, was built during the Ly Dynasty, and surrounded by large old
fir trees and the fragrance of forests. |
The Chief Monk was later
appointed as Teacher of a Crown Prince.
The pagodas original name was Van Yen, the new
name, Hoa Yen, was changed during the Le Dynasty. Designed as a very extensive
pagoda, comprising several main buildings, provided with bell and drum towers,
living quarters for monks and for guests, a 'predestination' shrine (Am Thien
Dinh) and more.
Later, it fell into ruin.
The present Hoa Yen Pagoda is built upon
the original foundations although much smaller in size, comprising but an antechamber and a back
chamber, dedicated to the three founders of the Truc Lam sect (Tran Nhan
Tong, Phap Loa and Huyen Quang).
Still regarded as one of the main pagodas
in the Yen Tu area, and one of the centres of the yearly festival, it has a
number of statues. The statue of Tran Nhan Tong, the largest, is in the
centre of the rear chamber.
To the rear of the Hoa Yen Pagoda is a bamboo garden and the Do Nhan Stupa built 800
years ago with enamel bricks whose colour has defied passage of
time.
Following the right slope of the mountain from the Pagoda,
the Ngu Doi Brook (where King Tran Nhan Tong bathed) and the Cloudy Shrine
(Van Am) where the King died in peace, can be found.
Facing away from the mountain, the
Shrine, lying amongst pine and bamboo trees, overlooks the sea. Proceeding
further, the 'One-roof' Pagoda, also dedicated to the founders
of Truc Lam sect, is revealed, built inside a cave with one roof erected outside.
From here, a winding lane leads to the Bao Sai Pagoda which is
near a beautiful cave, in which stalactites and stalagmites and a very
small, limpid brook can be found.
West of the Bao Sai Pagoda are the ruins of the Van Tieu Pagoda, the base of its altar lying among old pine trees. Not far from Van Tieu
Pagoda, is the nine-level Vong Tien Stupa, which has an original structure and a
spire.
Here onwards access becomes much more difficult as steep slopes skirting deep abysses,
with loose stones and rocks. If successful in crossing the Truc pass, often
filled with orchid flowers, a 2-metre statue-like piece
of stone is to be seen.
This is, purportedly, the statue of An Ky Sinh, a person who, one
thousand years ago, learned and practised martial arts in this mountain. Passing this statue, a Buddhist stele
stands (a stele with an inscription in Pali) alongside the Dong Pagoda, the highest location in the Yen Tu Mountain.
From
this vantage point an all-embracing panorama of this region, the mountains, the
rivers and the human settlements can be seen.
Legend claims that any time the bell rings in
the Dong Pagoda, clouds and rains shall follow, best illustrating, perhaps,
the height of the Yen Tu mountain which reaches to the clouds.
A visitor may be forgiven for feeling that they have departed the earthly world. |
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Festivals - Yet Kieu Temple |
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The Festival is held on lunar February 8 to commemorate a general who, serving
under Commander-in-Chief Tran Hung Dao, scored many feats of arms during the war
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the Mongolian invaders.
It involves religious ceremonies, and such games as wrestling, plates reverting
card game with watch towers. |
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