At the dawn of Dong Son culture, Hoang Quy (Hoang Hoa) was the land chosen by the ancient Vietnamese to live and create the unique Quy Chu culture. In Quy Chu village today, many traditional cultural and religious activities are still preserved. The most prominent is the Ky Phuc festival held from the 6th to the 8th of the second lunar month.
The traditional boat racing game "Com thi, ca giai" was held at the Ky Phuc Festival in Quy Chu village, Hoang Quy commune.
It has been several years since the Quy Chu village festival was held again this year after a hiatus due to the pandemic. Villagers in both upper and lower hamlets enthusiastically participated in the village's festival activities because it is a cultural, spiritual and religious need of the people.
Quy Chu village is divided into 3 hamlets (Trung Tien, Tay Phuc and Dong Nam). Although each hamlet has its own spiritual area and cultural house, every year the villagers gather at Trung Communal House to hold the festival. Quy Chu village's Ky Phuc festival was formed long ago with the ceremony and festival closely linked together, creating a unique cultural feature of this land. On the main festival day, the ceremony takes place first with palanquin processions and offerings to express respect to the gods, and at the same time for people to send their wishes for a year of favorable weather, good wind, and bountiful crops. After completing the offering rituals in the ceremony, the whole village will begin the festival. Traditional community performances or modern sports and art activities all attract a large number of people to participate.
There is a unique folk game that has existed for hundreds of years and is still maintained and organized by the locals here, which is the boat race "Com thi, ca giai". This folk game is considered a unique cultural feature of Quy Chu village. The competing teams row the boat on the pond, catch fish and cook rice on the boat. The preparation for the game is also quite elaborate. From decorating the dragon boats, carp boats, silver carp boats... to preparing costumes for the competing teams. Each boat has a pair of young men and women. Men wear brown shirts, red scarves tied to their heads, carrying oars, fishing rods, fishing nets or nets; women wear four-panel shirts, crow-beak scarves tied to their heads, holding pots, tripods, firewood... The game not only demonstrates the men's talent in rowing and pulling the net on the river, but also demonstrates the women's ability in housework, dexterity and resourcefulness when cooking rice on the boat. The cheers and encouragement of the people on the shore make the boat racing festival more exciting.
Mr. Le Ngoc Hoa, Head of Trung Tien Village, member of the Organizing Committee of the Quy Chu Village Festival, said: The festival is a beautiful cultural feature of the locality. Many people come to the festival with joy and pride when returning to the long-standing traditional cultural features of their ancestors and origins.
In Hoang Xuan commune, every first day of the third lunar month, local people eagerly attend the Phu Vang festival. Phu Vang was built in the 18th century, and is a place to worship the First Holy Mother Lieu Hanh - one of the "Four Immortals" of Vietnam. Legend has it that when Nguyen Hue led his troops to the North to defeat the Qing army, he stopped at Phu Vang to rest and enter the palace to offer incense and pay respect. The Holy Mother appeared in a dream and gave him a good plan to defeat the enemy. When Nguyen Hue ascended the throne, he showed gratitude to the Holy Mother, bestowed a royal decree and built a temple on Chua Mountain, Vang Village.
Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Hoang Xuan Commune, Nguyen Van Tai, said: Since ancient times, Phu Vang has not only been a place for people in the commune to participate in spiritual and cultural activities, but also a place that attracts a large number of people and visitors to worship and express their gratitude to the First Holy Mother Lieu Hanh. The festival has become an indispensable spiritual and cultural activity of the people in the area. In the future, the relic will continue to be restored and embellished by the locality.
The ancient land of Hoang Hoa is a cultural space with a strong identity. From the system of relics, beliefs, festivals to the rich and unique folk performing arts. According to statistics, the whole district has 470 relics, of which 93 historical - cultural relics have been ranked, including 16 national relics and 77 provincial relics. The dense system of relics is a place to worship gods, honor historical figures, cultural celebrities, founders of villages and communes, those who have helped and protected people through danger or contributed prestige and merit to enrich the village and commune, admired, remembered and worshiped by the people.
Along with the relic system, Hoang Hoa also preserves many intangible cultural heritages. In the cultural space of the village festival, local people not only enthusiastically organize games, performances, competitions, but also cultural and artistic performances so that the melodies of Cheo singing, Tuong singing, and festival drum performances are vividly recreated, close to, and connect the community. Notably, many traditional village festivals in Hoang Hoa have become an opportunity for young generations to return, both enthusiastically participating in cultural and sports activities, and learning about documents, cultural and historical stories in their homeland.
Article and photos: Viet Huong
(The article uses some documents in the book History of Hoang Quy Commune, Hoang Hoa Cultural Geography).
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