Festival of 5 Moc villages

The 5 Villages Festival is held to process the Saints traveling in Spring, enjoy the landscape of the 5 villages and pray for peace in the country and people... The 5 Moc villages of ancient Thang Long - today's Hanoi are 5 ancient villages along the To Lich river. The traditional festival of 5 Moc villages was formed from the custom of making love between 5 villages: Giap Nhat, Chinh Kinh, Cu Loc, Quan Nhan and Phung Khoang, both making friends and supporting each other. The friendship of the 5 villages originates from the story of a hungry boy who received a rice ball from the King and divided it with 4 other boys. The 5 boys later settled down in 5 villages in the Ke Moc area, and after growing up, they still maintained their close relationship. Each Moc village worships its own village tutelary god: Giap Nhat village worships Phung Luong - General of the Phung Hung period; Quan Nhan worships Trung Nghia Dai Vuong Hung Lang Cong - The person who had the merit of fighting the Nam Chieu invaders and worships his wife Saint Truong My Nuong, from Quan Nhan village; Phung Khoang worships Dong Hai Dai Vuong Doan Thuong - General of the Ly Dynasty; Cu Chinh worships Lord La Dai Lieu during Ngo Quyen's reign (Cu Loc and Chinh Kinh later merged into Cu Chinh). The villages are now streets and wards in two districts: Thanh Xuan and Nam Tu Liem. As scheduled, every year the 5 Moc villages hold festivals on the 11th and 12th days of the second lunar month, holding a mass gathering once every 5 years. The main location of the festival is at communal houses in Moc hamlet, of which Quan Nhan communal house, Thanh Xuan district is often considered the center of the festival. The 5 Moc Village Festival is held to process the Saints traveling to Spring and enjoy the landscape of the 5 villages and pray for peace and prosperity in the country... According to local elders, in the past, the 5 Moc Village Festival was held for a whole month, but now it is only limited to 6 days, mainly undertaken by Nhan Chinh Ward - Thanh Xuan District. Before the day of the festival, the government and People's representatives of the 5 villages will meet together to discuss and perform rituals such as: Communal opening ceremony, water procession ceremony, moc duc ceremony, robe ceremony... Then, on February 8, the elders of the 5 villages will hold a presentation ceremony at the communal house and practice parades and palanquins. On February 9, in the morning, the celebrants, initiators, flag masters and other men and women go to the communal house to perform the ceremony to present to the Saint. In the afternoon, the procession is rehearsed. On February 10, the families of the 5 villages will take turns offering offerings to the Saint. On February 11, a procession of Saints is held. The procession includes a full set of ceremonial staff, ban drums, dragons, lions, senh tien dance teams, sacrifice teams, holy palanquins, dragon palanquins, flower palanquins, dignitaries... of 5 villages. On February 12, villages receive Holy Mass at their village communal house and then procession to the village communal house hosting that year's festival. After the procession, a council ceremony is held. In the closing afternoon, the Nam Quan Te ceremony team settled down. On February 13, in the morning, Mr. and Mrs. Khoi Chi, Giai Nam, Giai Nu held a thanksgiving ceremony, and in the afternoon, the festival committees held a thanksgiving ceremony. On the main day of the festival, the villages process the Saints in a formation: At the head of the procession are 5 five-element flags, followed by the flag dancing team, dragon dancing team, then drums, gongs, lion team, horse team, elephant team, ball dancing team, incense burner, dragon court, flag team, road team, bowl-among ward, Thanh palanquin, bowl palanquin, flower palanquin, bamboo elephant, wooden horse... The procession of the 5 villages follows each other for many kilometers, every step takes a step, then rests, the sound of gongs, drums, bustling and jubilant music. Prominent and attention-grabbing are the dragon, lion and lion dance teams; The earth men and land men danced while walking, making the festival atmosphere more jubilant and bustling.