| Description |
Trịnh Xuyên communal house festival is held from the 9th to the 12th of the second lunar month every year, to commemorate the merits of General Vũ Đức Phong - the man who participated in the battle against Chiêm Thành during the Trần dynasty.
Since last year, the village has sent a family to grow sticky rice on the village's public fields and raise a pig. Pigs are raised in cages and eat clean food. On the day of the festival, the village will use steamed sticky rice to pound round sticky cakes and slaughter pigs to pound sausages as offerings to the Saint.
The opening ceremony is the Ngọc Lộ procession. The dragon lion dance team, flag teams, drum teams, incense plans, flag carrying teams, Bát Bửu teams, twin horses, float carrying teams with parasols and canopies, and representatives of the people and government make up the procession. For the ritual, Ngọc Lộ was led in a procession from the temple to the common house in Trịnh Xuyên. It is usual to walk through the palanquin in the hopes that the Saint may grant good health and fortune to the sick, old, and children.
The offerings to the Saints include two parts: a vegetarian offering and a salt offering. The fasting ceremony includes fruits, cakes, and oats, which are offered by representatives of the hamlets wearing heads. The salty ceremony includes pork, sticky rice, rice cakes, wine, gold coins, incense, and betel and areca nuts. The custom of raising "Mr. Pig" in a cage, drinking clean water, and eating clean food. On the day of the festival, the villagers slaughter the pig, pound the meat and offer it to the Saint; Planting sticky rice in village fields to get sticky rice for sticky rice and pounding sticky rice cakes to worship the Saints.
Many folk games are organized within the framework of the Festival such as: going on a bridge, human chess, blindfolded hitting pots, etc, and especially clay cannon competitions. Teams compete in 4 rooms, each 45 minutes. |
