On the ancient land of Ban Thach

Among the famous ancient villages of Thanh Hoa, the old La Da village, now Ban Thach village, Xuan Sinh commune (Tho Xuan) is a sacred land with outstanding people. With over a thousand years of age, Ban Thach today still preserves a number of unique and rich tangible and intangible cultural heritages.

On the ancient land of Ban Thach Cao Son Temple Festival 2024 takes place on April 23 (March 15 of the lunar calendar). Photo: KIEU HUYEN

According to the village history: Since the day Mr. Ham Hue Trung was an official at the end of the pre-Le dynasty and the beginning of the Ly dynasty, he had already seen the sacred land to settle down, reclaim and establish a career, creating a solid and lasting foundation for future generations of his children and grandchildren. He named this sacred land La Da village with the meaning of being as solid as a stone table.

The genealogy of the holy Cao Son was recorded by Dong Cac grand scholar Nguyen Binh (during the reign of King Le Anh Tong) in 1572 and the book "Kham Dinh Viet Su Thong Giam Cuong Muc" recorded: During the reign of King Le Thai To of the Later Le Dynasty, the Lam Son uprising began. When the troops advanced past the Cao Son shrine in La Da village, they suddenly stopped and could not move any further. The king was surprised and summoned the villagers to ask for the reason. The people reported everything clearly, and the next day they prepared a ceremony to thank them in front of the shrine. From then on, the king quickly raised his troops and marched straight to the Champa enemy's headquarters to fight a great battle... Returning to La Da village, he went to the palace temple, thanked them, and bestowed the 6-character title "Thuong Dang Phuc Than Gia Ban", and gave the People's page 100 quan of money; exempted from military provisions... Le Thai To said: La Da means like Ban Thach. The name of Ban Thach village came from that.

Leading us around the village, Mr. Le Van Truong, head of village 3, Xuan Sinh commune, introduced: According to the legend told by the elders, in the old days, Ban Thach village had 4 gods guarding the 4 directions, creating a stable land, combining yin and yang, favorable weather, peaceful villages, and thriving descendants. Initially, the Le Trong, Le Cong, Le Quoc, Le Doan and Do families came to establish the village; later, a total of 19 families came to settle down and live together, uniting and gathering together.

As a son of Ban Thach land, Colonel Le Quoc Am devoted his heart and effort to collect and compile the book: "Cultural geography of Ban Thach, Xuan Quang commune" (now Xuan Sinh commune, Tho Xuan), Thanh Hoa Publishing House, 2019. Talking about the sacred land, the land of vitality, he affirmed: Ban Thach has the shape of a flying dragon spitting out pearls. On the dragon's back, there are 21 bat-shaped land shapes, with the main dragon vein from Long Ho connected to Luong Giang river (Chu river), so talented people in this land will never end.

In which, he surveyed and affirmed that in Ban Thach there is a land shape in the shape of a pen, inkstone and book, the descendants of the village have always had a natural talent for literature and art... There is also a land shape of a horse's neck, a land shape of a drumstick, a land shape of a sword that develops martial arts. In addition, there is a land shape of a turtle, on the back of the turtle is a crane, so it produces many talented people in the profession of fortune teller, shaman; land shape of a snake and lizard, so it develops a lot in the profession of teaching... In particular, according to oral tradition, in the ancient village of Ban Thach there are up to 21 land shapes of bats. When added to the four sacred animals "dragon, unicorn, turtle, phoenix" it becomes the five blessings. Therefore, this land was chosen as the burial place of three kings of the Le Trung Hung period: Le Du Tong, Le Hien Tong, and Le Man De.

Based on the merger of Xuan Quang and Xuan Son communes, Xuan Sinh commune today has the third largest area and the largest population in Tho Xuan district with great potential for development, especially spiritual tourism development. Both the temple relics of the kings of the Le Trung Hung period and Cao Son temple worshiping the human god who was highly regarded by King Ly and revered by the people of Ban Thach village as the village's tutelary god have been restored and embellished by the people. Every year, the old Ban Thach village, now belonging to 5 villages (villages 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) has 2 festivals attracting people in the village, in the commune and tourists from all over. Those are the temple festival of the kings of the Le Trung Hung period on January 20 and the Cao Son temple festival taking place on March 15 of the lunar calendar.

Mr. Le Van Truong, the village chief, was still elated with the atmosphere of the Cao Son temple festival that had just taken place. He said: Village 3 currently has 1,200 people with 220 households. Before the festival, people had prepared to practice to receive the royal decree. We mobilized 30 men to participate in the procession, carrying drums, umbrellas, knives and swords... In addition, we also practiced tug of war to compete with 12 other villages in the commune. It was hard work but fun, everyone enthusiastically participated.

Compared to many relics in the district and commune, Cao Son temple still retains many valuable documents. These are Cao Son's genealogy; the genealogy of Princess Ngoc Nuong of the Tran Dynasty and 15 royal decrees of the kings of the Southern country conferring titles on the god.

Mr. Truong also said that people in village 3, Xuan Sinh commune still tell the old story that because of fear of thieves stealing or destroying the stele, the elders in Ban Thach village and the clans at that time had to assign people to take turns guarding it every night. The elders discussed hiding the stele in Long Ho (today's Ban Thach lake). In the early 60s of the 20th century, when people in the village and commune were still catching shrimp, they often saw it, but now the stele is covered by alluvial mud, the village has searched many times but has not found it. More recently, three rare fans, fan bones made of ivory and 2 small bells from Cao Son temple were also stolen. These artifacts are extremely valuable. Once lost, it is difficult to get them back.

Also because of understanding the traditional cultural and historical values, when building a new rural area, Xuan Sinh commune in general and the people of Ban Thach village in particular always strive to preserve and promote heritage values. Vice Chairman of Xuan Sinh Commune People's Committee Le Van Tuan affirmed: Socio-economic development is necessary. But in a village rich in cultural traditions, with many historical relics like Xuan Sinh, the most important thing is to promote the values of the relics. To exploit the available potential and advantages, Xuan Sinh commune is promoting and attracting investment, at the same time connecting with tourist areas and spots in the district and the province to develop tourism into a spearhead economic sector of the locality, creating more jobs and income for people, motivating the commune to achieve a model new rural area in 2024.

KIEU HUYEN

The article uses materials from the book "Cultural Geography of Ban Thach Village, Xuan Quang Commune, Tho Xuan District" by author Le Quoc Am (Thanh Hoa Publishing House, 2019) and other documents.

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