Vinh Nghiem Pagoda Festival

Vinh Nghiem Pagoda Festival Vinh Nghiem Pagoda Festival is held every year at Vinh Nghiem Pagoda (also known as La Pagoda Festival). Previously, the festival was held on November 1 of the lunar calendar every year, people in the area still used to call it the La Pagoda's ceremony - the transformation day of Giac Giac Dieu Ngu Tran Nhan Tong. In recent years, the Vinh Nghiem Pagoda Festival has been held for three days from the 12th to the 14th day of the second lunar month every year to suit the spring weather, the festival season and also the death anniversaries of the abbots of the second generation such as Tran Nhu, Thich Thanh Hanh... so the abbots later organized the death anniversary on the same day, called the Patriarch's death anniversary, so the nature of the festival was less but the nature of the death anniversary was more. The La Pagoda Festival opened in which three La villages participated with strict organization. The three La villages include La Thuong, La Trung and La Ha. All three villages worship the three ancestors of Truc Lam Yen Tu. Offerings include: - La Thuong: prepare steamed glutinous rice, steamed sticky rice, fragrant fruits, decorate the village's palanquin, the La Thuong float has 5 floors, the top is a large tall oan product, the 4th floor is 4 oan products, the 3rd floor is 6 oan products, the 2nd floor is 8 oan products, the 1st floor is 10 oan products in a pyramid structure. - La Trung: Tradition of making banh day, the village has a rice field. Every year, the Elderly Association is assigned to plant sticky rice and blow sticky rice to make banh day. This variety of rice, called sticky rice, is both white and fragrant. When made into cakes, it is flexible, smooth white and has a pure fragrance. Every year the village makes a thick cake the size of a small stiletto, weighing 30-40kg, decorates it into a beautiful, delicious glass shade, and is about to go on a palanquin for procession. - La Ha: Prepare sticky rice, grind black sugar, grind green tea, and decorate cakes on your village's palanquin. During the opening festival, each village holds a palanquin procession to the pagoda. The person who runs the entire procession of the three villages is the Chief Executive. The participants in carrying flags and palanquins in the procession are elegant boys and elegant girls selected by the villages. They are young men and women who are unmarried, healthy, obedient, and are descendants of kind, exemplary families with prestige in the village. These people all wear reddish-brown shirts, top hats, leggings, yellow belts around the ribs, and yellow scarves on their heads. The worship of ancestors is undertaken by monks. Under the direction of the Abbot, the village elders recite Buddhist sutras. Before the opening day of the festival, village officials met to discuss specific tasks that would take place over three days. Vinh Nghiem Pagoda Festival is organized by the monks at the pagoda in close coordination with the People's Committee of Tri Yen commune. About a month before the festival, the abbots at the pagoda and the commune People's Committee met to discuss and set up an organizing committee to take care of the festival. In each specific village, there are subcommittees elected by the village to take care of the village's affairs assigned by the temple. Village committees are usually headed by the Village Chief. Members of the board are organizations such as: Front Association, Youth Association, Women's Association, Farmers Association... From the afternoon of the 13th, the festive atmosphere was bustling throughout the old Duc La area. Flags and banners were hung and posted by the people of the three La villages everywhere. Visitors from all over come in groups and groups, eagerly pulling each other from the streets to the temple. At the scheduled time, the processions of La Thuong, La Trung, and La Ha villages depart from the village center towards the pagoda. Leading the way is the unicorn dance team. After the unicorn procession is the procession of La Thuong village, followed by La Trung, and finally La Ha. Under the direction of the festival's organizing committee, when the three processions arrive in front of the temple door, they stop to stabilize the formation.