“Wherever you join the festivals, it is not compared to joining the January Festival of Va Temple”. Va Temple, also known as Dong Cung, located in Van Gia hamlet (Trung Hung ward, Son Tay town, one of the four palaces of Doai village, worshiping Tan Vien Son Thanh – the leading god in the four immortals in Vietnamese folk, has been ranked by the State as a national historical-cultural monument since 1964.
Va Temple Festival – the largest festival in Doai Village
On January 19, 2016, Va Temple Festival – the largest festival in Doai village was honoured to be recognized by the State as a national Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Bolded with Doai village’s identity
Twice in every Spring and Autumn, on the occasion of January and September each year, Va Temple welcomes the children of the homeland and visitors across the country to offer incense to pay tribute to Tan Vien God. Every three years, in the following years: Rat, Horse, Cat, and Rooster, local authorities and villagers hold a large festival with the participation of eight villages worshiping Tan Vien God, namely Van Gia, Cau Tri, Nghia Phu, Mai Trai, Ai Mo (Trung Hung ward), Phu Sa villages (Vien Son ward), Phu Nhi (Phu Thinh ward) and Duy Binh village (Vinh Ninh commune, Vinh Tuong district, Vinh Phuc province).
The central part of the festival is the procession of Tan Vien God’s throne and tablet over the Red River to Ngu Dau Temple (where the legendary Tan Vien God bathed) to recall the legend and then return to Va Temple. To pay homage, the people along the streets that the procession passes through sincerely, offer incense in front of their doors, welcoming the God’s throne. At the crossroads between streets, in front of the house, temples and pagodas where the procession passes through, had large and well-decorated altars to pray for the God’s blesses and to show gratitude to him. During the three-day festival (14th, 15th and 16th of lunar January), folk games such as wrestling, tug of war, chess, human chess, pot breaking, and rice cooking contest, etc. are held with a large number of participants.
Along with the full moon festival in lunar January, at Va Temple also takes place the full moon festival in lunar September, also well-known as Da Ngu festival in Doai village. In addition to recalling the Tan Vien God’s fishing and fish processing tale, Da Ngu festival also promotes fishing and preserves as well as protects the ecological environment of the Tich river. During the festival, people living on the two banks of Tich River cover a whole section of the river to fish together. In the river, men enthusiastically swim and fish while the villagers play the drum and going to cheer them up on the banks. 99 big white fish chosen will be given to Tan Vien God to thank for his grace.
The Fish offering includes Boiled, roasted, steamed fish and raw fish salad in ten trays, one of which is for the Kitchen God, and the rest nine trays are divided into three, presented before the three thrones of Tan Vien god. Especially, in this festival, there is no salt and betel eating without lime, as the saying: “Va Temple festival with non-lime betel and non-salt sticky rice”. The festival helps us realise the ancient Vietnamese customs handed down to this day.
Va Temple
A place of solidarity
Coming to Va Temple, everyone feels like returning to the original source and the roots of Doai village’s national cultural identity. In the festive atmosphere, each of us has the same feeling of escape and relief in the ancient place that brings together the thousand-year spirituality of the nation. For a long time, Va Temple together with its festival has become a spiritual destination for Doai people and visitors across the country.
Va Temple Festival has been a firm spiritual bridge that connects the people living on the Red River banks into a whole. It has brought together solidarity and shown the aspirations for peace and prosperity of Doai people throughout the long history. With valuable cultural and historical values, on January 19, 2016, Va Temple Festival was honoured to be recognized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as the national intangible cultural heritage.
The ceremony of receiving the title of the National Intangible Cultural Heritage for Va Temple and Vietnamese Heritage Tree was held on the occasion of the Da Ngu festival of Va Temple. Being recognized as the national intangible cultural heritage is not only Va Temple’s pride but also a great responsibility of Son Tay town’s Party committee, authorities and people for the effective conservation and promotion of the nation’s traditional cultural values. This is a favorable premise for Son Tay town to continue strengthening the image propaganda and promotion associated with conservation, restoration and promotion of cultural values of the monument and Va Temple festival, focusing on preserving selected good traditional cultural values of Va Temple festival with particular attention to the unique features of the festival and additional cultural criteria to match the position of the national intangible cultural heritage.
Nguyen Quang Son