Bo pig procession festival

Unique Ong Bo pig procession festival in early spring in Hai Phong Ong Bo pig procession festival is a traditional festival of Ky Son village, Tan Trao commune, Kien Thuy district, Hai Phong city, taking place on the 10th day of the first month (lunar calendar) with the wish for a peaceful life and good crops. According to the elders in the village, "Mr. Bo" is not an individual's name but means "big". People still capitalize the word "Bo", because it is an element that makes up the proper name of a festival that has existed for a long time in Ky Son. Everyone attending the festival found the above explanation to be reasonable, because the pig in the procession was very large, even though it had been slaughtered and cleaned. Many local elders said that in Ky Son since ancient times, village elders highly encouraged good pig raising, especially preparing pigs for sacrifices. On that occasion, the village stipulated that any family that gave birth to a son had to pay the funeral, and that person was responsible for raising a large pig (due to the payment of money to buy breed and regulations on the weight of the pig that the farmer must reach). How many pigs are raised depends on the decision and there are prizes (equal to the pig's head) depending on the pig's weight. After being raised in a clean barn, on January 9, the pig owner opens the barn door to let people know. After the pigs are slaughtered, they are weighed to score points. Whoever has the heaviest pig will be the one to take the pig home... Pigs brought to the funeral are calculated according to the weight of the jaw. While slaughtering the pig, the soldiers also pounded banh day. Therefore, at the procession, Ky Son village had enough big pigs and day cakes, everyone was happy because of their efforts in it. Just like Kim Son's Vu Cau ceremony, Ky Son's "Mr. Bo" pig procession rituals are also conducted at the village communal house. The pig is cleaned, placed on a tray with all four legs spread out, decorated with pink paper. The thick cake tray is also beautifully arranged, plus a colorful five-fruit tray. All were placed on palanquins to the sound of village festival drums and music. There was no director's intervention in staging. The entire procession takes place under the joint management of elders and villagers. For a long time, 18 people in Ky Son village attach great importance to raising pigs and pig processions. In particular, Ky Son does not receive cooked pigs (roasted whole animals) and full raspberries like we often see in offering trays at festivals. The procession pigs here are heavy, butchered and left fresh. For the villagers of Ky Son, it is a symbolic image of a festival in which all the natural needs of the villagers are combined. These are life needs, spirituality, desires, and rights. This is also one of the characteristics of Hai Phong's traditional festival. Just looking at the big pig and the tray of white and fragrant rice cakes is enough to know that Ky Son people always wish for prosperity. This year and this month have good harvests in both farming and animal husbandry. The "Mr. Bo" Pig Procession Festival was restored in 1999. Compared to before, the village no longer raises pigs to give prizes, but still basically ensures procedures such as choosing a family that raises good breed pigs so that when entering the ceremony, the "Mr. Bo" pig will be heavy, meaty, beautiful, and indispensable for day cake and five fruits. The ceremony in the festival is conducted under the guidance of Mr. Pham Van Mao and a number of representatives in the village. The adult worship team (officiants) are mainly members of the Vu family. In addition, there were 5 healthy, well-educated teenage boys participating. In the smoke of incense at the communal house's door, the children listened to the funeral orations of the elders, solemnly participating in folk rituals to deepen their understanding of the meaning of a hometown festival. That is the inheritance of the spirit of love for labor, creating prosperity in one's homeland. After the ceremony, the palanquin-carrying group carries the pigs on the roads prescribed by the village to return to the village communal house. After the pig procession, the villagers were "rewarded" with pork, day cake and fruits, good livestock raising households were praised and rewarded, everyone in the village was excited. From a normal pet, at a certain moment associated with the rituals of a festival (opened every three years like today), the pig in Ky Son becomes sacred because it is imbued with spiritual elements. And that is the unique feature of Ong Bo Pig Procession festival in Ky Son, Kien Thuy. Along with the Bo pig procession, Ky Son village festival also attracts visitors from all over with the unique stone running game. In the past, the stone running festival was often held on January 5th, recently it was organized on the same occasion as the Bo pig procession. Ice running is meant as a sport, encouraging people to train their bodies to endure the harshness of the weather. Since ancient times, villagers have been worshiping a stone in the communal house. During the festival, an elderly man in the village dressed neatly in ceremonial clothes and solemnly prayed to receive the sacred stone. After that, the heavy sacred stone was dropped into the temple well. The village's racing teams consist of young, strong men divided into 4 groups, each consisting of 3 to 5 people, performing "showing" tricks, spinning three times to warm up against the bitter cold of early spring, then rushing into the competition to find rocks. Whichever team wins the stone and brings it back to the temple is the winner.