Gin Temple Festival, Chien village, Nam Duong commune, Nam Truc district, Nam Dinh province takes place for 3 days from December 8 to 10 every year and is one of the typical festivals of Nam Dinh province.
The festival aims to pay tribute to General Kieu Cong Han - the person who "advised" Ngo Quyen to defeat the Southern Han invaders on the Bach Dang River in 938, opening the period of national independence. The festival has many unique rituals, including the sacrificial ceremony of live grass carp, attracting the attention and participation of many people and tourists from all over the world...
Live grass carp offered at Gin Temple festival. Photo: Nguyen Lanh - VNA
Unique festival
Gin Temple Festival is a large inter-village festival with the participation of 19 hamlets in Nam Duong and Binh Minh communes, Nam Truc district. Although the main festival takes place on the 10th of December, the preparation work is attended by a large number of people, making it a big festival.
Since the beginning of December, people have been busy preparing for tasks such as making Chung cake, Day cake, making pork roll... The highlight of the festival is the ritual of sacrificing live grass carp. The fish to be offered to the Saint on the main anniversary day of December 10 is black grass carp. The local people spend a lot of time searching for fish that meet the standards for offering in different localities. In some years, the sacrificial fish were recorded to be large, weighing nearly 20kg.
On the main festival day - the 10th, the villages carry palanquins, especially fish, to the temple, then worship the main god. On the palanquins there is usually a tray of Cac offerings and a tray of Ngoc offerings. The Ngoc tray is a savory dish used to worship heaven, the Cac tray has various kinds of cakes, fruits and flowers as offerings to the gods. After the ceremony, the fish and other items are brought back to the village for the people to enjoy.
Mr. Tran Van Huan, Phuc Thien village, Nam Duong commune said that the sacrifice of live grass carp is to recall the story of the local people offering grass carp salad to General Kieu Cong Han and his soldiers when he returned to this land. In addition, the offerings are all specialties with cultural and culinary characteristics of the land, presented with high artistic value, showing the sincerity of the people here to pay tribute to their ancestors.
Along with the ceremony, the festival includes folk games and traditional cultural and artistic activities throughout the three days of the festival, such as ancient Cheo performances, wrestling, Chinese chess, and Tom Diem.... Gin Temple Festival has become a unique cultural activity of the local people, and is one of the 10 outstanding festivals of Nam Dinh province.
Monument to honor ancestors
According to historical documents, Gin Temple is where local people worship and show gratitude to General Kieu Cong Han - who was trusted by Ngo Quyen and appointed as "De Sat Giam Quoc Su". Later, when the Ngo Dynasty collapsed, due to historical conditions at that time, General Kieu Cong Han became the leader of one of the 12 warlords. In the year Dinh Mao (967), Dinh Bo Linh was given military power by Tran Lam in Bo Hai Khau (present-day Thai Binh). With increasingly strong military potential, Dinh Bo Linh continuously defeated many warlords...
At that time, Phong Chau citadel (Phu Tho), where the warlord Kieu Cong Han was stationed, was besieged by Dinh Bo Linh's forces. In a critical situation, he brought a few hundred soldiers to clear a path, escaped the siege and fled south towards Thanh Hoa. In early December of the year Dinh Mao (967), when they arrived at Chien village (Nam Duong commune, Nam Truc district today), Kieu Cong Han's soldiers were invited to a restaurant to rest, served good wine and grass carp salad by a local.
After finishing his meal, Kieu Cong Han took off his robe and gave his precious things to the person who had helped the army. He then became a deity and became “Thanh Hoang Long Kieu” on the 10th day of the 12th lunar month. The next morning, the termites had formed a tomb that covered his entire body; the people called it a sky burial. To remember the great contributions of General Kieu Cong Han to the people and the country, the local people built a temple right on his tomb to burn incense all year round.
The annual traditional festival of Gin Temple demonstrates the national morality of “When drinking water, remember its source”, educating patriotism and pride for the younger generation. This is also an opportunity for people and tourists from all over to offer incense, express their respect and gratitude to their ancestors who have contributed to building the country.
Mr. Pham Van Dung, the head of Gin Temple, informed that in 1962, the temple was ranked as a national relic by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The temple is a relic that still preserves almost the entire architectural style of the Later Le Dynasty, 17th-18th century. The artifacts preserved at the relic are very rich and diverse such as sacred relics, royal decrees, incense altars, thrones and tablets, worship statues, stone lions...
Along with the system of famous temples and pagodas of Nam Dinh such as Tran Temple, Pho Minh Pagoda, Co Le Pagoda, Dai Bi Pagoda, Gin Temple is one of the spiritual tourist destinations that attracts visitors from near and far, especially during the Vieng Spring Fair Festival. According to the records kept here, the temple was built and passed down to now for more than 1,000 years and has been restored and upgraded many times to meet the religious and spiritual needs of the people and tourists.
Nguyen Lanh/ VNA
Source: https://baophutho.vn/doc-dao-le-te-ca-tram-song-o-le-hoi-den-gin-226607.htm
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