Gin Temple Festival, Chien village, Nam Duong commune, Nam Truc district, Nam Dinh province has many unique rituals, including the live grass carp sacrifice ceremony, attracting the attention and participation of many people and tourists from all over the world...
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 is to pay tribute to General Kieu Cong Han - the person who "gave advice" to Ngo Quyen to defeat the Southern Han invaders on the Bach Dang River in 938, opening the period of national autonomy.
The festival has many unique rituals, including the live grass carp sacrifice ceremony, 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 two communes, Nam Duong and Binh Minh, Nam Truc district, Nam Dinh province.
Although the main festival takes place on the 10th of December, the preparations are attended by a large number of people, making it a big festival.
Since the beginning of December, people have been rushing to prepare jobs such as making Chung cake, Day cake, and gio...
The highlight of the festival is the offering of live grass carp. The fish offered to the Saint on the main death anniversary, December 10, is black grass carp.
Local people spend a lot of time searching for fish that meet the standards for offerings. Some years, the sacrificial fish were recorded to weigh nearly 20kg.
The chicken sticky rice ceremony is elaborately prepared by the people. Photo: Nguyen Lanh - VNA
On the main festival day – the 10th, the villages carry palanquins, especially fish, to the temple, then worship the main ancestor. On the palanquins there is usually a tray of Cac offerings and a tray of Ngoc offerings.
The Jade 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 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, expressing the sincerity of the local people in paying tribute to their ancestors.
Offering ceremony at Gin Temple festival, Chien village, Nam Duong commune, Nam Truc district, Nam Dinh province. Photo: Nguyen Lanh - VNA
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 cards.
Gin Temple Festival has become a unique cultural activity of the local people, 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 of 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 the critical situation, he brought a few hundred soldiers to clear a path, escape the siege and flee south towards Thanh Hoa.
In early December of the year Dinh Mao (967), when returning to 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.
People and tourists participate in the Gin Temple festival. Photo: Nguyen Lanh - VNA
After finishing his meal, Kieu Cong Han took off his robe and gave valuable items to the person who had helped the army. He then transformed into a deity called "Thanh Hoang Long Kieu" on the 10th day of the 12th lunar month.
The next morning, the termites had pushed the tomb to cover the 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 come and offer incense, express their respect and gratitude to our ancestors who contributed to building the country.
Playing chess at Gin Temple festival. Photo: Nguyen Lanh - VNA
Mr. Pham Van Dung, the head of Gin Temple, informed that in 1962, the temple was ranked as a national monument by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
The temple is a relic that still preserves almost completely the architectural and artistic style of the Later Le period, 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 unicorns...
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 Spring Vieng market festival.
According to 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...
Source: https://danviet.vn/lang-nay-o-nam-dinh-dang-te-le-hoi-den-gin-ca-tram-den-khong-lo-xoi-ga-hinh-thuyen-rong-20250120232906591.htm
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