Xuan Pha is a folk performance depicting the scene of 5 ancient countries (China, Holland, Tu Huan, Champa, Ai Lao) bringing gifts along with their country's unique dances and songs to congratulate the Emperor of the ancient Vietnam. Xuan Pha was formed and developed for more than 1000 years to become a unique and special folk dance complex, performed annually on the 10th-12th of the 2nd lunar month at the Xuan Pha Temple relic, Xuan Truong commune, Tho Xuan district, Thanh Hoa province and is recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage.
Artists performing Xuan Pha dance
The villagers of Xuan Pha believe that the performance dates back to the 9th century, associated with the story of the village's tutelary god helping King Dinh Tien Hoang defeat the 12 warlords. To repay the village's tutelary god's kindness, the king held a festival at the temple and conferred on the village's tutelary god the title of Dai Hai Long Vuong Hoang Lang Tuong Quan. At the same time, the villagers were rewarded with 5 dances to be presented to the village's tutelary god every year during the festival.
The Xuan Pha dance consists of 5 very special dances named Hoa Lang, Chiem Thanh, Ai Lao, Ngo Quoc and Tu Huan (Luc Hon Nhung), each with different meanings.
The Hoa Lang play represents the tribute of the Goryeo (Korean) people, with the characters of grandfather, grandson, grandmother and ten soldiers. The costumes include a long dress, a high cowhide hat, a fan in the left hand, an oar in the right hand, a mask also made of cowhide painted white, with peacock feathers for eyes. The Lord's hat is carved with a dragon, and the moon is carved on the Quan's hat. The lyrics express the diplomatic relationship, in addition, the costumes with eye-catching colors and patterns, the appearance of mascots symbolizing the rank of feudal officials, are also signals of the royal element in the play.
The Tu Huan troupe represents the Tho Hon Nhung (Mongolian) people who paid tribute. The Tu Huan troupe wears a bamboo hat and a wooden mask depicting the great-grandmother, mother and ten children. The bamboo hat is woven like an upside-down pot basket with bamboo strips to make the hair white, and is worn over a red square cloth covering the head. The wooden mask is painted white with black eyes and mouth painted on it, very "horrifying". The great-grandmother's face is wrinkled, the mother's face is old, and the ten children are divided into five pairs, their faces painted according to their ages from young to old with 1, 2,...5 teeth to match.
Artists performing Xuan Pha play
The Ai Lao troupe symbolizes the Thai-Lao tribute, including the Lao Lord, his servants, guards (ten soldiers), elephants and tigers dancing to the rhythm of bamboo cymbals, symbolizing hunting power but also softness and flexibility. The Lord wears a dragonfly-winged hat and a blue indigo shirt. The soldiers wear banyan-root hats, wrap them around their shoulders, wear leggings and hold bamboo cymbals.
The play "Ngo Quoc" symbolizes the tribute of the Wu and Viet (Chinese) people. There are two fairies, a lord and ten soldiers wearing military hats, blue shirts, and holding oars. At the beginning of the act, the characters of the medicine seller, the candy seller and the geomancer appear and do an impromptu dance, then give way for the fairies, lord and soldiers to leave. The performance includes fan dance, scarf dance and oar dance.
The Champa game symbolizes the Champa people paying tribute. In the Champa game, in addition to the lord and the soldiers, there are also phoenix characters. The lord's shirt is made of beans, the soldiers' shirt is made of silk, both are dyed pink and have no embroidery patterns. The lord and the soldiers both wear red square scarves with two vertical horns on their heads. The phoenix shirt is a sói collar, the siem collar is wrapped around the body.
Of the five plays, three require the performers to wear masks, namely Chiem Thanh, Hoa Lang and Luc Hon Nhung.
The uniqueness of Xuan Pha is that out of the five plays, three of the performers must wear masks, namely Chiem Thanh, Hoa Lang and Luc Hon Nhung. The characteristic of Xuan Pha is that the male dancers have free movements, with open, strong arms and legs, expressing "softness in hardness, softness in hardness" with many dance movements and dance formations, highlighting the nuances of rice culture, the graceful, delicate, discreet but also very strong appearance of the Vietnamese people.
It can be said that Xuan Pha is the pinnacle of the crystallization of royal dance and Vietnamese folk dance. Therefore, Xuan Pha is both unique and has its own appeal to become a precious gem in the intangible cultural treasure of the Vietnamese people.
After many centuries of existence, existence, development and being passed down from generation to generation, Xuan Pha performance has gradually perfected the techniques of making masks, props, costumes, music and lyrics. This performance also meets criteria such as representativeness, expressing community and local identity. The dances reflect the cultural diversity and creativity of people, are passed down through many generations, have the ability to recover and exist for a long time... With those criteria, Xuan Pha performance was recognized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as a national intangible cultural heritage in 2017.
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