Preserving the cultural beauty of Mau Temple festival

Mau Temple, De Nhi Street, now Tran Hung Dao Street, Le Hong Phong Ward (Thai Binh City) is one of the temples in the system of relics worshiping the Holy Mother Lieu Hanh. The temple is one of the sacred places of worship, the center of cultural and religious activities of Thai Binh province.

Procession of the Mother Goddess at the festival.

Holy Mother Lieu Hanh is the main deity in the worship of Tam, Tu Phu of the ancient Vietnamese people. Along with Saint Tan Vien, Saint Giong, Saint Chu Dong Tu, Holy Mother Lieu Hanh is one of the four immortal saints in folk legend, the daughter of King Cha Ngoc Hoang Dai De. She is famous for her three reincarnations on earth because of her altruistic desire to save the suffering and transform the people. Mau Temple, Le Hong Phong Ward worships the three Holy Mothers of Van Huong: "Lieu Hanh Princess - Quynh Cung Duy Tien Lady - Quang Cung Que Anh Lady", which are the three incarnations of Holy Mother Lieu Hanh.

Holy Mother Lieu Hanh is a deity with a particularly important position in the Mother worship system of our country. The image of the Holy Mother has a lasting and everlasting vitality in the minds of the Vietnamese people. In addition to the name Holy Mother Lieu Hanh, she is also known by other names such as Mother De Nhi Tien, Thien Tien Holy Mother, Ma Hoang Bo Tat... Not only is she worshiped by the people, but the Mother was also granted many royal decrees by feudal dynasties from the Later Le Dynasty to the Nguyen Dynasty, honoring her as "Mother of the world - Mother of all people", "The most supreme and most sacred, the hand of all gods", "Che Thang Bao Hoa Dieu Dai Vuong"... The story of Holy Mother Lieu Hanh is associated with the Mother's three incarnations. It was during these incarnations that people passed down many anecdotes about the merits and achievements of Lord Lieu Hanh. From her support of money to build dikes to prevent floods, to building bridges, opening roads, and many other projects to make people's lives more convenient. She even performed magic to help the people fight off foreign invaders. Folklore has it that her third incarnation was during the Trinh-Nguyen conflict, when the people were in misery. She traveled everywhere to save people and punish the wicked. It is not by chance that our people worship the Holy Mother Lieu Hanh with such deep and wide admiration; that admiration and worship has become a self-conscious belief that permeates the people's feelings and awareness towards the noble values of our nation's traditional morality.

According to legend, the Mau Temple in Le Hong Phong Ward has existed for hundreds of years and was solidly rebuilt in the second year of Bao Dai, 1926. The temple is the provincial Mau Temple of Thai Binh Province in history. During the years of the resistance war against the US, the Mau Temple located in Tran Phu area was the most heavily damaged area of Thai Binh city because this area had Bo Bridge - a vital bridge on National Highway 10, connecting Hai Phong, Thai Binh with Nam Dinh and the southern provinces, so it became the focus of fierce attacks by the US invaders; therefore, the Mau Temple was also affected. All the ancient structures of the past only retained the horizontal gate on the left side of the temple. In 2019, on the land of the old Mau Temple, people from all over contributed to rebuild the temple on a grand and spacious scale. In 2020, the Mau Temple was recognized as a provincial historical and cultural relic.

Mr. Lai Manh Thang, Chairman of the People's Committee of Le Hong Phong Ward, said: Mau Temple with its long history is a spiritual gathering place for many people in the ancient Thai Binh town. Today, the temple is a place to preserve and maintain worship rituals in the Mother Goddess worship belief according to traditional national culture. The cultural space of Mother Goddess worship at the relic has an important meaning in contributing to the propaganda, promotion, raising public awareness and understanding of Thai Binh land through historical periods. 2023 marks the first time the Mau Temple festival has been restored and organized after 50 years with many traditional rituals. This year, the Mau Temple festival has many traditional activities and rituals in addition to the Mau palanquin procession, such as the announcement ceremony, the ceremony program, the ceremony to worship the mandarins, and art programs. The festival has the participation of many sacrificial groups, traditional ritual groups, drum groups, lion and dragon dance groups, along with monks, nuns, and Buddhists.

Lion and dragon dance troupe at Mau Temple festival in 2024.

Mr. Doan Cong Nhien, head of the Mau Temple relic protection team, said: The legend of the Holy Mother Lieu Hanh and the worship of her by the Vietnamese people are unique cultural pages, with profound educational meaning, lasting forever. This year's festival, Le Hong Phong ward, together with people from all over the country, organized a procession of the Mother to travel along the Tra River and religious and belief establishments within Thai Binh city, with the purpose of remembering the origin and cultural beauty from ancient times. That is the traditional morality of "When drinking water, remember its source", so that people can teach themselves and cultivate human morality.

Ms. Hoang Thi Ngoan, a Buddhist group at Mau Temple, shared: We focus on practicing to have the rituals, songs and dances to serve the festival, so that it is true to the meaning of the festival, which is to preserve and promote the traditional cultural beauty of the nation. Mau Temple Festival, Le Hong Phong Ward, aims to honor the merits of our ancestors in the cause of defending the country and protecting national independence; at the same time, contributing to the restoration, preservation and development of the unique cultural values of the traditional festival; propagating and promoting the values of the relic site, meeting the needs of the spiritual and cultural life of the people. This is also one of the practical activities towards celebrating the 70th anniversary of the town's liberation and 20 years of building and developing Thai Binh city.