Opening of the Traditional Festival of Saint Nguyen Temple in 2024

On the evening of April 16 (March 8 of the lunar calendar), at the national architectural and artistic relic site of Saint Nguyen Temple (Gia Tien and Gia Thang communes, Gia Vien district), the District Party Committee, People's Council, People's Committee, and Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Gia Vien district held the opening ceremony of the 2024 Saint Nguyen Temple Traditional Festival.

Attending the opening ceremony were comrades: Doan Minh Huan, member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee; Mai Van Tuat, Standing Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; Pham Quang Ngoc, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; leaders of the Provincial People's Committee; leaders of the Provincial Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee; representatives of a number of provincial departments and branches; districts and cities; Provincial Tourism Association; Provincial Oriental Medicine Association; leaders of the District Party Committee, People's Council, People's Committee, and Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of the district; representatives of departments, branches, and organizations of the district; District Buddhist Executive Committee; communes and towns in the district and a large number of local people in Gia Tien, Gia Thang and tourists from all directions.

Opening of the Traditional Festival of Saint Nguyen Temple in 2024 — Delegates attending the opening ceremony.

On behalf of the leaders of Gia Vien district, comrade Pham Van Tam, Deputy Secretary of the District Party Committee, Chairman of the District People's Committee, Head of the Festival Organizing Committee delivered the opening speech of the festival.

The speech stated: Zen Master Nguyen Minh Khong, whose real name was Nguyen Chi Thanh, was from Dam Xa village, Dai Huu commune, Truong Yen district (now Gia Thang commune and Gia Tien commune, Gia Vien district). He was a talented Zen Master, who made many contributions to the political life, cultural ideology of Dai Viet during the Ly dynasty. He was one of the few Zen Masters whose related events were recorded in Dai Viet Su Ky Toan Thu. The fact that the Zen Master was appointed as National Master, the highest position in the Ly dynasty's Buddhist hierarchy, clearly demonstrated his importance in the history of Buddhism during the Ly dynasty in particular and the history of Vietnamese Buddhism in general.

Zen Master Nguyen Minh Khong from real life has entered the folk life full of legends and myths with many powers, talented magic and is considered the founder of medicine and the founder of bronze casting. Surrounding the life and career of Zen Master Nguyen Minh Khong is a cultural space full of history and legends. He is one of the very few historical figures who have been canonized by the people (along with Hung Dao Vuong Tran Quoc Tuan) and has a special position in the hearts of the people as well as Vietnamese culture.

After the Zen Master passed away, to commemorate his merits, King Ly issued an edict to the people, the family members in the village, and all the people of Dam Xa to perform a ceremony at Minh Khong Hoa, to bring his divine name back to build a temple to worship him... from Son Tay to Ai Chau, everyone worshiped him, taking Dam Xa as the main place of worship. To date, there are over 570 places of worship in localities throughout the country.

The Temple of Saint Nguyen in Dam Xa has long been famous as one of the sacred temples in Gia Vien land, and is considered one of the "Hoa Lu Four Towns". The entire structure is located on a land of more than 4,000 m2 and was built in the style of "Inner public, outer private", "Front and back palace" with a very unique and ancient architecture of the Later Le Dynasty. The historical and cultural relic of the Temple of Saint Nguyen was recognized as an architectural relic by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in 1989.

To show respect to the Ly Dynasty National Teacher, it is customary for people to hold festivals at the Saint Nguyen Temple from the 8th to the 10th of the third lunar month. The festival is not linked to the birthday or death date of Saint Nguyen; it is not linked to the crop season but is held in the spring with the folk belief that spring is the season when all things grow and flourish, people are given more strength, full of spring energy in a new life.

The traditional festival of Saint Nguyen Temple is imbued with historical and cultural festival associated with the life, career and legend of Zen Master Nguyen Minh Khong; plays a particularly important role in the cultural and spiritual life of the community, and is a creative product demonstrating community cohesion.

In recent years, with the people's respect for Saint Nguyen, to preserve relics, preserve unique cultural features, promote traditional historical values, the Saint Nguyen Temple Festival has been held annually and has been upgraded in scale, content and space.

Honored and proud to be the hometown of Saint Nguyen, the Party Committee, government and people of Gia Vien district have been making efforts to build Gia Vien to develop more and more, especially continuing to promote and exploit the values of cultural heritage, especially cultural heritage related to Zen Master Nguyen Minh Khong, contributing to the development of culture and economy in the district.

After the opening speech of the festival, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Doan Minh Huan beat the drum; Secretary of the Gia Vien District Party Committee Hoang Manh Hung beat the gong to open the festival.

Next is an epic art program with the content "Following the footsteps of Saint Nguyen" performed by the Gia Vien district mass art troupe and children of the homeland.

*Before the opening ceremony, at the National Architectural and Artistic Relic Site, traditional rituals took place such as: Temple opening ceremony, bathing ceremony, Cao Nieu ceremony, procession of hundreds of gods, incense offering... to express the morality of "When drinking water, remember its source", to commemorate and show gratitude for the great contributions of National Master Nguyen Minh Khong in the historical process of the nation.

Attending the incense offering ceremony were comrade Bui Mai Hoa, member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Head of the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department; leaders of the District Party Committee, People's Council, People's Committee, Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Gia Vien district; representatives of departments, branches, and organizations of the district; Gia Tien and Gia Thang communes and local people.

The festival includes unique cultural activities, bearing the mark of the great contributions of Zen Master Nguyen Minh Khong to the nation's medical career such as: Diem village market, Yoga art performance, "Finding the origin of Saint Nguyen" tour experience, the final round of the "Nurturing tour guide talent" contest in 2024, boat racing, folk games...

Through organizing festival activities, we contribute to arousing the tradition of loving our homeland and country, national pride for generations and raising awareness and responsibility of all classes of people in participating in preserving, promoting and exploiting the value of cultural heritage.

Bui Dieu-Minh Quang

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