Trung Temple in Bo Vy Village (Yen Thinh Town, Yen Mo District) is the place to worship Saint Nguyen Minh Khong - a famous and virtuous national teacher of the Ly Dynasty. Legend has it that, since ancient times, Bo Vy Village had a special strategic position, the people had a brave spirit, so many military selections and martial arts training of talented generals took place here.
The prestige of Saint Nguyen helped the people rise up to fight off foreign invaders, reclaim land, open villages and make a living. Proud of the priceless heritage left by their ancestors, the people of Bo Vy village always pay attention to educating the younger generation about traditions. This includes preserving and promoting wrestling in village festivals - a beautiful feature of the customs and practices, and community cultural activities of the local people.
Despite his advanced age and the lack of strength and agility of a famous wrestler, Mr. Trinh Duy Vy still practices the 31 moves passed down from his ancestors every day. Every year, as the village festival approaches, Mr. Vy is restless and busy preparing everything so that the village wrestling ring can be filled with joy.
For Mr. Vy and many generations of Bo Vy villagers, wrestling is not only a way to preserve the traditional culture that has existed for a long time in the village festival, but it is also a way to convey the aspirations of the people for a year of favorable weather, health and prosperity for everyone. "The wrestling competition held in early spring during the village festival has existed for a long time to honor strong young men. In addition to the element of having fun in the early spring, the wrestling festival is also full of martial spirit, stimulating the health training, courage and confidence of Bo Vy people" - Mr. Vy shared.
Mr. Mai Cong Binh, Head of the Bo Vy Village Festival Committee, said: The wrestling festival in Bo Vy village is also an opportunity for people who work far away from home to return to their hometown, meet relatives and friends before confidently putting on loincloths and entering the wrestling ring to compete with a martial spirit and optimism. To create a good impression on visitors from all over the world and on wrestlers from outside the area, the Organizing Committee has issued specific rules, reflecting the martial spirit of the Bo Vy people. During the competition, wrestlers are not allowed to use moves that endanger the opponent's life such as bending, twisting, attacking with the head, throat, etc.
The goal of the Village Festival is to focus on health training, preserving the beauty of national traditions and not placing too much emphasis on winning or losing. Therefore, for each participant, the wrestling ring is an opportunity to test one's strength at the beginning of the year in the hope of luck, health and success in the new year.
Gia Hung Commune, Gia Vien District is also a locality with many historical relics. Every year, when January comes, people in the commune eagerly go to Hoa Lu Cave Festival - a national historical relic, where King Dinh Tien Hoang is worshiped.
Ms. Dang Thi Hang, a resident of Gia Hung commune, said: I was born and raised in this land. When I was young, on New Year's Eve, my mother always took me to Hoa Lu cave to respectfully offer incense, pray for health, luck and good results in my studies. When I grew up, I got married and worked far away, my job was busy. However, every year I arranged my time to return to my hometown on the occasion of the village festival. For me, the shadow of the old cotton tree burning in March, the sound of drums on the opening day of the village festival, the quiet space of incense smoke... those are the images that remind me most of my hometown. Not only is it a respect for the legendary king, but generations of local people also come to the festival with warm, close feelings as if descendants were returning to reunite on the death anniversary of their ancestors.
Along with the Hoa Lu cave festival and Thung La temple festival, Gia Hung commune people are also eagerly preparing for the opening day of Cat Dun temple festival held on the 15th day of the first lunar month. According to historical legend, since ancient times, a rare and strange thing has happened in this cave. Every year in the 8th lunar month, sand in the mountain cave is pushed out of the cave entrance. Legend has it that the shape of the sand pile will predict what may happen during the year. If the sand pile is shaped like a pile of rice, that year will have favorable weather, good agricultural production, and prosperity for the people; if the sand pile is shaped like a dike, it predicts heavy rains and floods... In March of the following year, all the sand will be sucked back into the cave. Seeing this strange thing, the people built a temple to worship the Mountain Lord and Cao Son Thanh Hoang. The temple was built on a rock cavity, below is a deep cave that still exists today. Here, many valuable cultural artifacts are still preserved, especially the set of artifacts "Khiet Dun Tu 36 quẻ" written in Han Nom characters, carved on Thi wood, Bao Dai Ngu Nien era.
Mr. Dinh Khac Thuy, Chairman of Gia Hung Commune People's Committee, said: Village festivals are held in January every year. With a solemn and respectful organization, the festivals have attracted a large number of local people and tourists from all over to come and worship, praying for a year of favorable weather, good crops, a prosperous, peaceful and healthy life.
The organization of annual festivals has also contributed to preserving and promoting the historical and cultural traditions of the nation, while promoting the potential and strengths of the socio-economy, unique cultural features, relics, and scenic spots of Gia Hung land and people. In the coming time, the relics will continue to be cared for, preserved, embellished, and well-organized by the locality in festival and tourism activities... to be worthy of the stature of a provincial and national historical relic site.
Currently, the whole province has about 230 festivals held each year, 150 of which are held in early spring, and about 50 festivals are held in January alone. Most of the festivals in our province are village festivals. In order for the festival activities to be truly meaningful cultural and spiritual activities, meaningful occasions for people of all walks of life, the locality has been implementing many solutions to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of festival management, promote cultural and historical values, and ensure solemnity.
The special feature of each festival is that besides the solemn and traditional ceremony, in the festival, many localities have cherished, preserved and conserved traditional cultural features, becoming the typical cultural features of each region. For example, in village festivals, Kim Son district organizes rowing; Yen Khanh and Yen Mo districts organize cheo performances, hat van, hat xam, etc.
Going up to Nho Quan mountain area, you will encounter archery, crossbow shooting, and duets of Muong ethnic boys and girls, while Hoa Lu people are excited and generous with excerpts of flag exercises... Therefore, the village festival has become a cultural beauty, an occasion that local children and tourists from all over the world look forward to, eagerly making a pilgrimage to their roots.
Notably, although it is a traditional festival, the village festival is also a place for many young generations to return to. When young people go to the festival, in addition to enthusiastically participating in cultural and sports activities, they also have the need to learn more about the documents and historical stories of the relics in their hometown.
In order for village festivals to truly become a cultural beauty of the locality and a place of spiritual meaning for every Vietnamese person, in recent years, localities in the province have strengthened festival management and relic management activities. Communes where festivals are held regularly promote propaganda work to raise awareness and pride among local people about protecting relics.
In particular, in order to build a new cultural life in the community, in recent times, the implementation of a cultural and civilized lifestyle in weddings, funerals and festivals has always been directed and implemented by local authorities and has brought about practical results, thereby contributing to educating a healthy cultural environment in the community.
Dao Hang
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