Highlights of the New Year's Water Procession

The unique Water Procession Ceremony at the beginning of the year is one of the traditional ceremonies that opens the 5-day Tran Temple Festival. The Water Procession Ceremony at the Tran Temple Festival in Thai Binh is a type of folk culture, a unique spiritual ritual. The ceremonies take place not only to pray for favorable weather and harmony between Yin and Yang, but also to express gratitude to the ancestors of the Tran Dynasty, a dynasty that started from the fishing profession associated with the rivers here.

Author Vu Van Long with the photo series “The special water procession at the beginning of the year”, will recreate the life of the Tran Dynasty ancestors before becoming kings, associated with fishing on the river. Nowadays, this ritual has become a ritual associated with the belief of praying for water, praying for good crops as well as reporting to the kings of the residents of the Red River Delta after a year of production. The photo series was submitted by the author to the Photo and Video Contest of Happy Vietnam, organized by the Ministry of Information and Communications.

The water procession at the Tran Temple Festival in Thai Binh is a type of folk culture, a unique spiritual ritual with the wish to pray for favorable weather, harmony between yin and yang; at the same time, it carries the meaning of gratitude to the ancestors of the Tran Dynasty, a dynasty that started from the fishing profession associated with rivers. This ritual is performed before the official opening ceremony of the Tran Temple Festival in Thai Binh.

The young men in Tien Duc commune were the ones who directly carried the palanquin with the sacred water jar to Tran temple.

Although it rained lightly since morning, it did not affect the procession much.

According to ancient concepts, water is one of the leading factors in forming agriculture, strongly influencing crops and the lives of farmers.

Leading the procession was a lion dance team, followed by a palanquin carrying the ancestors of the Tran Dynasty: Tran Kinh, Tran Hap, Tran Ly, Tran Thua and Grand Tutor Tran Thu Do. Following were the processions from villages and communes inside and outside the district.

Therefore, the people held the water procession with all their sincerity. The water procession began when the elders lit incense and respectfully invited the spirits of the Tran Dynasty kings to witness.