Puppetry dance art at Co Le Pagoda, Nam Dinh

Puppetry (Co Le Pagoda) is a unique traditional cultural art that has been passed down for a long time and preserved in the Nguyen Dai Toc family, to welcome the Holy Ancestor Nguyen Minh Khong. This is a special festival to pay tribute to the merit of Zen Master Nguyen Minh Khong of the Ly Dynasty, a true monk, a famous physician, a founder of bronze casting. He is one of the "Nam Thien Tam Vi Thanh To" who was awarded the title "Ly Trieu Quoc Su" by the Ly Dynasty court.

To learn about this traditional cultural art, please join Vietnam.vn to watch the puppetry performance through the photo series "Puppetry at Co Le Pagoda" by author Pham Quoc Dung. The photo series was taken by the author in Nam Dinh . The puppetry is a simulation of the creatures born by the Queen of the Liang Dynasty, abandoned, protected by Buddha Tathagata and saved by Duc Thanh To. The puppets' faces show crying, laughing, and reproach. The photo series was submitted by the author to the Photo and Video Contest "Happy Vietnam - Happy Vietnam", organized by the Ministry of Information and Communications .

There are 9 puppet heads in total. Each artist, when dancing, offers two puppet heads with his hands and dances with his feet to the rhythm of 5 steps, writing the word "Khau". When his feet dance to the rhythm, the hand offering the puppet heads is brought around from the outside to the front of his chest.

Each puppet dance couple has the same movements and rhythm, expressing the joy and happiness of being saved and bathing in the pure river of miraculous Buddha's magic.

Along with that, the Trang dance is usually performed by the President (leader), as described above, there are 2 couples with 8 puppet heads that appeared, the remaining Trang dance is the artist dancing Chau alone with 1 puppet head.

The dance movements are still in rhythm with 5 but the same movements are performed 5 times because there is only one puppet head, the hands move up and down in front of the chest, the dance rhythm of Ong Trang is slow, leisurely and calm, true to the style of a leader.

There are 3 movements, each movement is performed 3 times. Then the two puppeteers switch positions and continue to perform 3 times movements 1-2-3. Finally, the two puppeteers stand back to back and rotate around to express their joy and gratitude to the Buddha for his protection and the Holy Patriarch for his salvation.

After 5 Chau dances, Mr. Trang follows the drum beat and moves forward, using his feet to write each stroke of the Chinese characters: First is the word Van (Van Nang) - the symbol of Buddhism, then the word Thanh cung Van Tue - World peace.

Finally, Mr. Trang Hanh performed the Tam Bai ceremony of the Holy Ancestor, praying for His Holiness to protect the people and bring peace to the world, to congratulate the Party and the people on a firm foundation, to cultivate good crops and good mulberry fields, and for businessmen to have many profits. Pray for the country to be peaceful and safe, for everyone to be healthy, and for families to be peaceful and happy.

In 2024, the Photo and Video Contest "Happy Vietnam - Happy Vietnam" continues to be organized by the Ministry of Information and Communications in coordination with the Vietnam Association of Photographic Artists on the website https://happy.vietnam.vn for all Vietnamese citizens and foreigners aged 15 and over. The contest aims to honor individuals and groups with positive information products, making practical contributions to the propaganda and promotion of beautiful images of Vietnam to the world. Thereby helping people in the country, compatriots abroad and international friends access authentic images of the country, people of Vietnam, Vietnam's achievements in ensuring human rights, towards a happy Vietnam.

Each contest category (photo and video) has the following prizes and prize values:
– 01 Gold Medal: 70,000,000 VND
– 02 Silver Medals: 20,000,000 VND
– 03 Bronze Medals: 10,000,000 VND
– 10 Consolation prizes: 5,000,000 VND
– 01 most voted work: 5,000,000 VND
The winning authors will be invited by the Organizing Committee to attend the announcement ceremony and award prizes and certificates on live television broadcast of Vietnam Television.

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