Jubilant festivals are an integral part of the spiritual life of Vietnamese people. Vietnamese people hold festivals to express their gratitude to the supernatural beings such as gods or national heroes. Giong Festival is also a festival with such a sacred meaning to commemorate the Holy Giong ie Phu Dong Thien Vuong.
Giong Festival is a traditional festival of commemorating and praising the victory of the hero Thanh Giong, one of the immortals of Vietnamese folk beliefs. The festival vividly simulates the movements of Saint Giong and Van Lang's people in the war against the An invaders, thereby raising public awareness about forms of ancient tribal wars; at the same time, to educate patriotism, the martial traditions, the strong will and the desire for independence and freedom of the nation.
Giong Festival is held in many places in the Northern Delta region but the most typical is Giong Association in Phu Dong Temple and Soc Temple (Hanoi). Giong festival in Soc temple (Phu Linh commune, Soc Son district, Hanoi) is held from 6 - 8 January lunar calendar every year. According to legend, after defeating the An enemy, Phu Linh was the final resting place of Saint Giong before flying to heaven.
To commemorate the merits of the Holy Father, here, the people built the Relics of the Soc temple including 6 works: Ha temple (also called Trinh temple), Dai Bi pagoda, Mau temple, Thuong temple (or call Soc temple), Thanh Giong monument and stele house. In particular, Thuong temple is the place to worship Thanh Giong and organize festivals with full of traditional rituals such as Moc Duc ceremony; procession; incense offering; feasting on elephants and horses ...
In preparation for the main festival, on the night of the 5th, Moc Chau ceremony (bathing the statue) was conducted to invite the Holy Father to attend the festival. On the 6th day of the festival, people from 8 villages in 6 communes located around the relic area of Soc temple are Tan Minh, Tien Duoc, Phu Linh, Duc Hoa, Xuan Giang and Bac Phu offering well-prepared gifts. to the Holy Father, may he bless the villagers for a fulfilling and happy life. T
In particular, the ceremony of offering bamboo flowers to Thuong temple of Ve Linh village (Phu Linh commune) was held for the first time. Bamboo flowers are made of about 50cm long bamboo rods, about 1cm diameter, plucked and dyed bamboo heads symbolizing Thanh Giong's whips. Bamboo flower after offering to Thuong temple will be taken to Ha temple and distributed to lucky people.
On the morning of the 7th day of the 7th congregation (the day of sanctification according to the legend), the scene of slaying the enemy general described the scene of Saint Giong slashing the last 3 generals of An enemy at the foot of the Ve Linh Mountain before flying to the sky. On the afternoon of the 8th, the ceremony of making a large elephant and paper horse model was conducted to end the festival because the war elephants and iron horses were the two mascots associated with the victory of Thanh Giong and the iron horses were two. mascots associated with the process of Thanh Giong against the An invaders, protecting the immature river.
All visitors participating in the festival are expected to join hands to carry elephants and horses to the river bank to be converted because by belief, anyone who touches the Holy Sacrifice will have good luck in life. During the festival, there are many folk games held such as cockfighting, chess, ca tru singing, cheo singing ...
The Giong Festival at Phu Dong Temple is like a large folk theater with hundreds of roles conducted in a standardized scenario. In particular, each role contains profound ideas such as: "Mr. Hieu" is the general of St. Giong; "Phu Gia" is a regular army of Thanh Giong; the "Generals" represent the 28 invading armies of the An Dynasty; "Mr. Tiger" is a combined army; "The village of red shirts" is a small army of scouts; The "black village" is a militia team ...
Besides, the festival also has processions such as: "Procession of the road" is to scout the enemy; "Procession of water" is to train weapons before being discharged into the army; "Communion procession" is negotiation, calling for peace; The "procession of Soi Bia" is a stylized simulation of fierce battles ... Giong Giong's global outstanding value is expressed in that it is a cultural phenomenon that is preserved, circulated quite continuously and integrity. thought many generations.
The festival also plays a role of connecting the community and contains many creative ideas, expressing the aspiration of the country to be peaceful, people have a prosperous and happy life. In terms of art, Hoi Giong brings many beauty and value of the festival such as processions, flagstones, drums, gongs, folk performers, umbilical song dance, tiger dance ...
On November 16, 2010, in Nairobi (the capital of Kenya), during the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Committee under the 2003 Convention of UNESCO, the Giong Association at Phu Dong Temple and Soc Temple was officially recognize as the representative intangible Cultural Heritage of humanity. UNESCO has recorded briefly and fully about Giong Association, which is "A cultural museum of Vietnam, preserving many layers of cultural sediments and beliefs".
