Luc Giap Communal House's Banh Day Festival is a National Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism has just decided to include the Banh Day Festival at Luc Giap communal house in Ninh Binh province in the list of national intangible cultural heritage.

The custom of pounding sticky rice cakes at Luc Giap communal house yard. Photo: Ninh Binh Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism

The Banh Day Festival at Luc Giap communal house takes place at Luc Giap communal house - the communal house worshiping the common tutelary god of 6 ancient Bo Xuyen villages (formerly called "Giap") in Dong Thai commune, Ninh Binh province today. This is a unique festival, with traditional cultural value of ancient Vietnamese people.

The festival takes place from the 25th to the 29th of the 11th lunar month every year, associated with the worship of the gods of the Hung Kings. The festival is associated with the image of Banh Day - a product that people create to offer to the Hung Kings.

The festival takes place with the following rituals: Bathing ceremony, inviting the gods from Dinh Doi of Dong - Doai village to Luc Giap communal house, palanquin procession and banh day procession from the villages to Luc Giap communal house, banh day offering ceremony, raising ceremony and palanquin returning ceremony.

Besides the solemn rituals, during the festival, there are also many traditional folk games: blindfolded duck catching, bamboo bridge crossing, bamboo swinging, chess, volleyball competition...

The Banh Day Festival at Luc Giap communal house also honors and pays tribute to many people who have contributed to the development of the Bo Xuyen and Luc Giap lands from ancient times until now.

The procession of sticky rice cakes from the villages to Luc Giap communal house. Photo: THNB

When organizing the festival, not only the dignitaries but all members of the 6 villages are mobilized and assigned to participate in performing the rituals. The children who are the origin of the villages and have settled in other localities still actively participate in the festival, creating successive generations who always turn to their roots, to their homeland.

Up to now, the Banh Day Festival of Luc Giap communal house is still preserved by the people of 6 villages of Dong Thai commune with traditional rituals. The process of integrating contemporary elements of each period (allowing women to go to the communal house, participate in the ceremony), changes in the palanquin procession ritual... shows the movement of the festival on the basis of transmitting, continuing, and creating cultural values.

Source: https://congluan.vn/le-hoi-banh-day-dinh-luc-giap-la-di-san-van-hoa-phi-vat-the-quoc-gia-10299087.html