The Do Temple Festival is a long-standing traditional
festival and has become a custom kept by the people of Dinh Bang as an
indispensable beauty of cultural activities.
Every year, on each occasion of the festival, tourists from
all over the region come here to celebrate and share the sacred atmosphere of
traditional historical and cultural values.
Where is Do Temple and when does the Do Temple Festival take
place?
Easygo - Do Temple is a temple built in Dinh Bang ward, Tu Son, Bac
Ninh in the 11th century, about 20km from the center of Hanoi.
In the past years, the tradition of organizing the Do Temple
festival was usually on March 15 (lunar calendar) and took place in 4 days 14,
15, 16, 17/3. In recent years, the festival has only been organized in 3 days,
March 14, 15, and 16, and the main day is on March 15.
The Do Temple Festival is imbued with national cultural
identity, like the sound of the original call to mark the day Thai To Ly Cong
Uan was crowned, opening a flourishing dynasty, creating a brilliant Dai Viet
culture.
The rituals taking place in the Do temple festival
Opening Ceremony
The opening ceremony is an extremely important part, so it
should be carefully prepared and performed seriously.
In the ritual ceremony, there is the "Tuc Yet"
ceremony, which means the procession of Ly Thanh Mau Minh Duc, Queen Mother
Pham Thi, for the purpose of gratitude to the person who gave birth to Ly Thai
To. This rite also means the ceremony of filial piety, the procession of the
Holy Mother to attend the child's great celebration.
Main Assembly and Deacon rites
The procession of Ly Bat De will be on the way to Co Phap
pagoda on March 14 to chant Buddhist scriptures on the 14th night and prepare
all the rituals to process the spiritual cards on the morning of the 15th to
the Do temple. One can see the scene "Eight ornate palanquins are carried
from Do temple to Co Phap pagoda to listen to monks and nuns chanting sutras,
and then brought back to their place. In particular, Ly Chieu Hoang's palanquin
was not allowed to be carried, but had to be carried to sit in front of the
shrine so that she could welcome the palanquin of the eight kings."
The main festival
The sacrifice is an activity to show respect and always
remember the great merits of the Ly Kings. In the sacred atmosphere right at
the ceremony, the sacrifice on behalf of the villagers prayed for peace, luck,
and faith for all people so that they would have more strength and will to
overcome all difficulties in life. In the past, the Do temple festival used to
carry eight palanquins, but day by day to reduce costs and ensure health, today
only two floats are held with symbolic significance.
The procession on the main day of the festival attracts
thousands of participants from Kim Dai pagoda to Do temple. The pioneering step
included a group of martial arts generals, naked, wearing loincloths like the
old style, holding bronze flags, and hundreds of soldiers following. There were
also 100 people carrying palanquins wearing red shirts and black hats. The
palanquin of Thanh Mau was followed by 18 female generals who were carried at
the front, then the Bat De palanquin, each with a horse and 16 male generals wearing
red shirts. Not only that, in the end, the procession consisted of people
wearing festive costumes, incense elders and villagers present, banners
covering the fields, the sound of drums resounding in the sky.
Fun activities at Do Temple Festival
If the ceremony has a religious meaning, the festival part
is a collection of fun activities that outline the daily cultural life of the
people. Perhaps only on these occasions, people have the opportunity to express
themselves and exchange and play folk activities together.
At the temple festival, activities such as wrestling,
playing human chess, singing “Quan Họ” fol songs, poetry festival, swinging,
releasing pigeons, playing cockfights, cooking clay pot rice contests... took
place very excitingly and happily.
Wrestling is a popular martial arts game during the
festival. Wrestling competitions often stir up the atmosphere of the guild and
attract everyone's attention. The sound of gongs, drums, people's cheers
throbbing the whole area is really worth it for you to once immerse yourself in
and feel.
In festivals in the North, chess is always an intellectual
game that appears quite popular. Do temple is no exception and people call it
by a special name, the human flag. Human chess is derived from chess, the game
format is the same but the difference is that the chess pieces are played by
humans, replacing wooden chess pieces, the people who act as chess pieces wear
clothes, hats, and shoes. beautiful fabric. Elders are often very interested in
chess. Chess in the Do temple festival has many unique features because it is
not only entertaining but also honors the beauty of human intelligence.
Temple Do festival is a traditional festival that has
existed for a long time and has become a custom kept annually by Dinh Bang
people, deeply ingrained in the people's subconscious and cultural and
spiritual life. With traditional historical and cultural values, Do Temple Festival is like a source calling to remind future generations to always
cherish the past and forever be grateful for the efforts of the previous
generations.
