Legend has it that in the 16th century, Princess Ban Tranh fell in love with a man of the same Cham ethnicity but different religion named Posanim pan, so she was opposed. Princess Ban Tranh's love affair caused a storm in the royal family, causing discontent among the Champa people at that time.
Because of her disrespect to her father, the princess was accused of treason and exiled to a deserted island. After many days of sailing on the ocean, the fleet headed southeast and escorted Princess Ban Tranh to a small island shaped like a giant mackerel - that was Cu Lao Thu (today's Phu Quy Island). Princess Ban Tranh and her entourage set up tents at the foot of Cao Cat Mountain (in Dong Hai village, Long Hai commune), cleared weeds, cut down trees, cleared land, found fresh water sources, planted crops, fished, explored the deserted island... and built an independent life. Later, the successor king gave Princess Ban Tranh permission to go to the mainland, but with love and pain from the past, the princess refused, accepting a normal, happy life on the beautiful Cu Lao Thu, sparkling in the middle of the East Sea. When the princess passed away, the people on Phu Quy Island erected a tomb, a stele, buried her, and built a temple to worship the island's lady next to Cao Cat Mountain, which is windy all year round. In recognition of the great contributions of Princess Ban Tranh, kings from the Nguyen Dynasty, Minh Mang to King Khai Dinh have bestowed on her 8 royal decrees, and assigned fishermen on Phu Quy Island to take turns burning incense and worshipping her. Today, visitors to Phu Quy Island can see an ancient temple built quite majestically at the foot of Cao Cat Mountain. The entrance gate is delicately and artistically carved. Almost every day, after going up Cao Cat Mountain, visitors burn incense and pray to Buddha for good things and admire the beautiful scenery of Phu Quy from the high mountain. When going down the mountain, they do not forget to stop by to admire the landscape of the ancient temple worshiping Princess Ban Tranh (Posah ina) - The islanders often call it the temple of the Lady. In 2015, this temple was ranked as a national historical and cultural relic by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
Through the ups and downs of history, the temple of the Lady still exists on the pearl island as an affirmation of the sovereignty of the first Vietnamese ethnic residents, who reclaimed the beautiful, sparkling land in the middle of the East Sea. Today, every January 3rd of the lunar calendar, the temple opens its doors, and the people of Phu Quy island solemnly organize a festival to bring the Lady's decree from the place of preservation to the temple and perform solemn worship rituals. During the festival, there are also many unique folk cultural performances of the islanders such as: Cheo Ba Trao, Hat Boi, Tu Linh dance... This is an occasion for many tourists from the mainland to the island and local people to attend the ceremony to commemorate and express gratitude for the contribution of Princess Ban Tranh to building Cu Lao Thu island. The ceremony of worshiping Princess Ban Tranh has long become the most common and sacred belief of the islanders. In people's minds and thoughts, Princess Ban Tranh is considered a very sacred deity, always there to protect and support everyone in their careers and lives.
The Lady Temple is a historical and cultural relic of national significance. Over the years, Phu Quy has preserved, exploited and combined tourism development. In fact, the combination of tourism and relics is gradually bringing positive results. Because most of the relics have typical values in terms of architecture, art, history and culture. Exploiting historical and cultural relics to develop tourism such as the Lady Temple not only brings socio-economic benefits, promotes the development of the tourism industry but also contributes to preserving and promoting the inherent values of the relics.
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