The Spring Opening Festival at the Tran Temple, Phu Ha Ward (Phan Rang - Thap Cham City) was first held on the Lunar New Year in 2015, but with a small scale and simple form, it did not attract the attention of local people. After many years of interruption due to many objective reasons, this year, on the occasion of the Lunar New Year of Giap Thin 2024, along with the event of the Tran Temple, the People's Committee of Phan Rang - Thap Cham City invested in the solemn and majestic restoration of the Tran Temple. The Tran Temple Opening Festival was restored with investment, improvements in content and richer form, considered one of the cultural and spiritual highlights celebrating the Party and spring of Phan Rang - Thap Cham City in particular, Ninh Thuan province in general, an address for local people to visit and enjoy spring in the first days of the new spring of Giap Thin.
In order to help people understand the main content of the Tran Temple Seal Opening Festival, the Management Board of the Tran Temple Relic would like to briefly introduce the origin and meaning of this festival.
The Tran Temple Seal Opening Festival is a custom that dates back to the 13th century under the Tran Dynasty. It is an ancestral worship ceremony performed at Thien Truong Palace, the place where the Tran Kings are worshiped, starting at the hour of Ty in January every year.
The Seal Opening Festival is a cultural custom of humanistic nature for the king to worship heaven, earth, and ancestors, expressing his respect and gratitude to the ancestors who built and defended the country. At the same time, this is an occasion for the king to bestow titles and salaries on officials who have contributed to the country and to bestow blessings on the people at the beginning of the new year.
The Tran Temple Seal has the words “Tran Dynasty Dictionary” and “Tich Phuc Vo Cuong” engraved in seal script on a square wooden board.
The essence of the four words "Tich phuc vo cuong" that King Tran gave to his people was the wish that all people do good deeds, accumulate virtue, spread blessings, teach the people to preserve family traditions, discipline, and morality; must accumulate blessings well and a lot so that future blessings will be sustainable.
The seal is placed at Co Trach Temple - the Temple of Duc Thanh Tran (the deified name of the national hero Hung Dao Dai Vuong Tran Quoc Tuan). At the opening ceremony, the elders in the lead and 14 young girls carrying 14 trays of fruit, which are offerings to the 14 Tran Kings, carry the seal box from Co Trach Temple to Thien Truong Temple - the temple of the 14 Tran Kings to perform the opening ceremony. Here, an elder stamps the seal with red ink on yellow paper with pre-printed lines of text with the content of governing the country and pacifying the people, warding off evil and curing diseases, called "Tran Trach Tran Dynasty", expressing the blessings of King Tran bestowed upon his subjects with the wish for the country to be peaceful and prosperous, for everyone to enter the new year in peace, good health, and prosperity in business.
To suit the specific characteristics and conditions of the locality, in our province, the Seal Opening Festival at the Tran Dynasty Temple Relic, Phu Ha Ward (Phan Rang - Thap Cham City) is held on the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, which is a traditional cultural festival activity of the nation taking place on the first day of the new year for local people to visit the Tran Dynasty Temple, ask for the seal, with respect and pray for all good things in the new year.
The Tran Temple Seal Opening Festival at the beginning of the new year is a beautiful traditional cultural feature of the nation, with profound educational significance and humanistic values, both expressing gratitude to our ancestors who built and defended the country, and praying for a peaceful new year, where everyone and every family enjoys many blessings and peace, all things go as planned, and all things go smoothly.
Nguyen Ngoc Minh
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