Visit Ho Bai Temple to remember the merits of the ancients

Historical architectural and artistic relic of Ho Bai temple.

According to the old Yen Bai Commune Gazetteer and the Ho Bai Village Genealogy, Ho Bai Temple worships the god Lac Hau Hop Lang - the eleventh son of King Hung. Once, following the Ma River to Trang Tran Bai land in Yen Dinh District (now Ho Bai Village), Hop Lang realized that this place was a sacred land, so he ordered his soldiers to build a temple near the Ma River. The temple is today's Ho Bai Temple. After the temple was built, Hop Lang returned to the water palace.

According to historical records, in addition to the event of the god Lac Hau Hop Lang coming to build the temple, there were three other important and meaningful events related to Ho Bai temple. That was when Hai Ba Trung returned to the temple to pray for the spirit of King Hung to protect the country from foreign invaders. Their prayers were answered, Hai Ba Trung and their army defeated the invaders. Immediately after that, Hai Ba returned to Trang Tran Bai to hold a festival to celebrate and repair the temple.

In 1286, our country fell into a severe drought, causing many difficulties for the people. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the enemy harbored the ambition to invade our country. Faced with this situation, King Tran Nhan Tong ordered people to go to Ho Bai temple to perform a ceremony to pray for the country to overcome the disaster. Three days later, there was heavy rain, and drought was relieved everywhere. Faced with this response, the king ordered the elders in Trang Tran Bai village to perform a thanksgiving ceremony and bestow a decree to confer the title of god on Ho Bai temple.

In 1888, facing the attack of the French colonialists, the Trang Tran Bai people gathered an army to follow King Ham Nghi to fight the enemy. When they learned that our insurgents were stationed at Ho Bai temple, the French brought a platoon with full guns to suppress them, but the Ho Bai people fought very steadfastly. Suddenly one day, the temple caught fire fiercely. During the reign of King Thanh Thai (1896), the temple was rebuilt majestically and firmly with artistic architecture and elaborate carvings. The temple includes the main gate, the main hall and the rear palace, which were built very harmoniously.

During the resistance war against France and the US, Ho Bai Temple was used to store military provisions for the resistance war and later became the workplace of the Yen Bai Commune Administrative Committee and Yen Bai Agricultural Cooperative.

In 1993, Ho Bai Temple was recognized as a national historical, architectural and artistic relic. It has become a tradition that every year on the 9th day of the 2nd lunar month, the people of Yen Truong commune organize the Ho Bai Temple festival. In addition to the ceremony, there is also a festival with attractive traditional games and performances. In particular, the long-standing competition for making rice cakes is still regularly held, attracting a large number of people to participate.

Through the ups and downs of history, the temple has seriously degraded. In 2019, with capital from the provincial and district budgets, socialized capital and other legally mobilized sources, the temple was renovated and embellished with items such as the front house, the back palace... with a total investment of more than 5.3 billion VND. By December 2024, the project to renovate and embellish the architectural and artistic relic of Ho Bai temple was completed and put into use to meet the cultural and religious needs of people inside and outside Yen Truong commune.

Mr. Trinh Ba Dan, a resident of Yen Truong commune who has contributed a lot to the restoration and embellishment of Ho Bai temple, said: "In addition to promoting the participation of family members in preserving and promoting the values ​​of the relic, I myself have also contributed my efforts and money to renovate the relic's grounds. Currently, some items of the temple have been restored and embellished to become more spacious, I feel very excited and in the coming time, I will actively protect the relic with the people in the commune."

"Proud of our hometown with many national historical and cultural relics, Yen Truong commune always strives to protect, preserve and promote the values ​​of the relics through practical actions, such as: renovating the relic grounds; cleaning the environment around the relics; respectfully burning incense on the first days of the month, full moon days...; directing the youth union to coordinate with schools in the commune to promote propaganda and education on the value of the relics for the younger generation. Although they have been renovated and embellished, there are still many degraded items, such as: the gate, yard, fence... affecting the spiritual life of the people as well as the beauty of the relic site. We hope that the authorities will continue to pay attention to investing in restoration and embellishment so that the historical, architectural and artistic relic of Ho Bai temple is worthy of being a national relic", Mr. Bui Thanh Hai, Chairman of Yen Truong commune, shared.

Article and photos: Nguyen Cuong

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/tham-den-ho-bai-nho-cong-duc-nguoi-xua-244660.htm