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The Phu Day Festival, associated with the legend of Saint Mother Lieu Hanh, has spread throughout the region and has become a distinctive spiritual tourism product of Nam Dinh, included in the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism . The festival features many rich ceremonial activities such as: the Chau Van ritual, the procession of the scriptures, the flower and staff festival, the torch procession of the dragon… and many traditional folk games.
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| A panoramic view of the procession carrying the Buddhist scriptures from the Tien Huong Temple. |
The procession of the Mother Goddess, the procession of flower scepters, and the torch procession are among the distinctive features of the large-scale Phu Day Festival, attracting a large number of participants. The procession of the Mother Goddess is an important ritual, demonstrating the harmonious and interconnected relationship between the Mother Goddess worship and Buddhism, contributing to community cohesion and religious unity. The procession of the Mother Goddess and the sacred relics of Phu Van Cat, held on the 5th day of the 3rd lunar month, begins with the ritual of requesting the incense burner and the sacred relics of the Holy Mother Lieu Hanh by the head priest of Phu Van Cat. The procession includes a group of elders, followed by a drum team, a procession of ceremonial flags, a dragon procession, a brass band, traditional music, female mediums, and those carrying the eight-treasure spear, followed by an eight-sided palanquin carrying the incense burner, a dragon palanquin for retrieving the scriptures, and three hammock palanquins. The procession of the Mother Goddess begins at Phu Van Cat, passes through the Mother Goddess Mausoleum to Linh Son Tu Pagoda to offer incense and worship Buddha, then returns to Cay Da Bong Temple, passes the Mother Goddess Mausoleum again, and returns to Phu Van Cat. At Tien Huong Temple, from early morning on the 6th day of the 3rd lunar month, devout men and women, mediums, and people from all over flocked to the temple to enjoy the dragon-flying spectacle. In a solemn atmosphere, representatives of the temple respectfully performed the ceremony of carrying the incense burner of the Holy Mother's spirit to the palanquin. The procession started from the courtyard of Tien Huong Temple, passed the Kim Thai Commune People's Committee, the Mother's Mausoleum, and then to Tien Huong Pagoda.
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| A panoramic view of the dragon-shaped torch procession at Tien Huong Palace. |
Along with the procession of the sacred scriptures, the Torch-carrying Dragon Procession also takes place at Phu Chinh Tien Huong Temple. According to folk beliefs, the flame carried from the shrine of the Holy Mother during the festival days has a sacred and auspicious meaning. Beginning the torch-carrying ceremony, the shamans, temple keepers, and incense burners sincerely request the sacred flame from within the inner sanctuary, then carry it outside and rekindle the flames for over a thousand torches carried by the young men and women. Leading the procession are dragon, lion, and unicorn dance troupes, performing to the rhythmic beat of drums and cymbals. Following them is a large, brightly lit dragon figure. Behind it are over a thousand young men and women of various ages, carrying brightly burning torches, walking in a line. The entire procession forms a fiery dragon, stretching for kilometers. The sacred flame in the Phu Chinh Tien Huong torch-carrying ceremony symbolizes the light of faith and expresses the wishes of the temple keepers, villagers, devotees, and all the people for a prosperous and happy life.
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| Arranging letters in the shape of words at the Phu Day festival. |
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| Dragon dance at the Phu Day festival. |
At the Phu Day Festival, many locals and tourists also get to enjoy the unique Hoa Truong Hoi (letter-pulling) performance. According to the elders in Kim Thai commune, legend has it that in the 17th century, in the Ke Day region, there was a girl named Ngo Thi Ngoc Dai who was selected to be a concubine of Lord Trinh. At that time, floods were frequent, and laborers from all over had to go to the capital every year to build dikes along the Nhi Ha River (Red River). The people of Ke Day, downstream of the Nhi Ha River, were still ordered by the court to go to the capital to build dikes. Seeing the laborers suffering from hunger, Princess Ngo Thi Ngoc Dai pleaded with Lord Trinh to take pity on them. Afterwards, Lord Trinh provided food for the laborers to return home and repair the dikes in their local area. Before the laborers left, the Princess instructed them to go to Phu Day to thank Mother Lieu Hanh. Upon returning home, overjoyed, the laborers gathered their digging tools in the courtyard of the palace and arranged them to form the words: "Long Live the Holy Palace," and then the whole group bowed to Mother Lieu Hanh to express their gratitude. From then on, every year during the festival, the people would organize the "pulling the characters" performance. Over time, the farming tools were improved with sticks tied with flowers and beautifully decorated ropes. For each performance of the flower-and-stick procession, the organizing committee mobilized 240 to 280 people dressed in costumes with red headscarves with gold trim, red and gold-trimmed sashes around their waists, white trousers, and red leggings. The sticks used to form the characters were prepared, each about 4 meters long, wrapped in multicolored paper, and topped with a "turban" made of chicken feathers. Participants in the character-pulling performance were divided into 4 or 8 teams, each with a flag bearer and a lead flag bearer. The leader of the character-pulling performance had to use a large drum and a small drum to give orders to the flag bearers to position and pull the characters in rhythm with the drums. Everyone in the team followed the flag bearer's instructions to move forward, backward, in, and out, creating characters that mimicked the ancient custom of placing hoes and shovels. When the characters were formed, the flag bearer invited an educated elder from the judging panel to review the characters. After scoring, the judging panel orders the procession to move on to another character arrangement. Commonly arranged characters are Chinese characters such as: "Mother of the World," "Peace and Prosperity," "National Peace and People's Well-being," "Harmony and Abundance," or "Restoration of Holiness," expressing the aspirations of agricultural communities, praying for national peace and prosperity, favorable weather, and reminding people to forever remember the virtues of the Holy Mother. In recent years, before the Flower Banner Festival performance, the Chinh Tien Huong Temple also hosts traditional opera, folk singing, and dragon dances, creating a rich and diverse cultural experience that attracts many locals and tourists from all over to worship.
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| (1) Procession of palanquins to request scriptures at Phu Chinh Tien Huong. (2) Procession to request scriptures at Phu Van Cat. |
Comrade Tran Khac Thieng, Chairman of the People's Committee of Kim Thai commune and Deputy Head of the Organizing Committee of the Phu Day Festival 2024, said: Inheriting the positive results from the organization of the festival in previous years, this year's Phu Day Festival took place safely and healthily, meeting the cultural and religious needs of the community. Thousands of lanterns and lighting systems were installed along the roads surrounding the relics, within the grounds, and inside the temple, ensuring security and safety for people and tourists during the festival days. The festival organizing committee developed a scientific festival script, suitable to the local conditions and traditional cultural beauty, creating an attractive atmosphere for visitors. Schools in Kim Thai commune focused on promoting the local traditional culture through various forms such as speeches, presentations at commemorative ceremonies, and talks by artisans. In addition, many extracurricular activities are organized, such as taking students to visit historical sites and participate in folk games during festivals.
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| (1) A ritual offering at Phu Chinh Tien Huong. (2) Drum performance to inaugurate the torch procession ceremony at Phu Chinh Tien Huong. (3) Singing at Phu Van Cat. |
Attending the Phu Day Festival, people not only fulfill their spiritual aspirations but also admire the beauty of a unique complex of traditional temples, pagodas, mausoleums, and shrines. Furthermore, the Phu Day Festival is a treasure trove of cultural heritage reflecting the customs, traditions, beliefs, art, and aesthetics, expressing the thinking and understanding of the community's worldview and philosophy of life, making a significant contribution to the study of the traditional socio-cultural life of Vietnamese villages.
Text and photos: Viet Du
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