Hai Ba Trung Festival in Ha Loi village

Hai Ba Trung Festival in Ha Loi village (Me Linh) Ha Loi Temple Festival (in Me Linh commune, Hanoi) is a festival commemorating Hai Ba Trung, taking place from the 4th to the 10th of January. In the spring of the year 40, from the village of Ha Loi Trang, in Giao Chi district, Hai Ba Trung raised the flag of insurrection to repay the country's debt, take revenge on the family, defeat the Han Dynasty's army, and conquer 65 cities to liberate the country. The two ladies became kings and established their capital in Me Linh for 3 years. From the Ly Dynasty until now, people in the villages of Ha Loi (Me Linh), Hat Mon (Ha Tay), Dong Nhan (Hanoi), are the three main places to build temples and organize festivals to commemorate the Hai Ba; But in each locality, the festival has its own nuance, imbued with the folk culture of each region. In Ha Loi - Me Linh, where the Hai Ba raised the flag of rebellion and established their capital, the most unique feature of the festival is the palanquin handing ceremony. The festival is held from the sixth to the tenth of January. Before that, from the 4th of the first lunar month, the villagers held the Moc Duc ceremony and replaced the statue of King Ba instead of going to the river to draw water to bathe the Saint's statue. Then on the 4th and 5th day, Ha Loi village held a ceremony to worship the Hai Ba in the village communal house along with the village's Tutelary God who were 4 generals - 4 siblings Do, Ho, Bach, Hac who blessed Thanh Tan Vien to rebuild the Hung family's career. During the procession of the two Kings and Ladies from the Temple to the Temple, there are: 2 elephants, 2 horses, a team of young women wearing white clothes carrying the palanquin, a team of female guardians wearing brown shirts, leggings, carrying swords, two teams of women carrying two palanquins, a worship team wearing green sacrificial shirts with seals, a team of musicians, a team of musicians, a team carrying flags, long swords, bowls, canopies, parasols... The most unique feature of the procession of the Hai Ba palanquin in Ha Loi, different from Hat Mon and Dong Nhan, is the palanquin handing ceremony: Starting the palanquin procession, from the Temple, the Trung Trac palanquin goes first. When they reached the road to gather troops to return to the village communal house, the Trung Trac palanquin stepped aside to let the Trung Nhi palanquin go first. At the communal house gate, the older sister's palanquin goes first, the younger sister's palanquin follows, followed by the village Tutelary palanquin, then the Thanh Cot Tung palanquin. In front of the communal house yard, palanquins of the village's Tutelary God and Cot Tung stood on both sides to welcome the two Kings and Ladies, with the symbolic meaning of the King from the capital Me Linh coming to visit the village. The solemn ceremony took place at Ha Loi village communal house. On the morning of the sixth day, at the main festival, the villagers sent the two ladies back to the capital to go to the Temple. And the procession of the palanquin procession is reversed compared to the day when returning to the village communal house: The Thanh Hoang palanquin and General Cot Tung stand on both sides of the yard to worship the Hai Ba and return to the capital, the elder palanquin goes before the younger palanquin; After 2 times of delivering the palanquin at the communal house gate and the marching road to the Temple gate, my sister's palanquin dodged to the right to let my sister's palanquin go first into the Temple. In the jubilant procession, the bustling sounds of gongs and drums of the Bat Am guild were heard, with men and women on both sides singing duet. With the sacredness of the festival, the celebrant solemnly recited the oath of the Two Ladies: "I am the Central Lady who raises troops to suppress the enemy, protects the good people, restores all the old things of the ancestors, does not disappoint the will of heaven, satisfies the wishes in the temples of the kings of all generations, does not disappoint the expectations of the ancestors in the nine springs"... From the 7th to the 10th day of the first lunar month, there is a ceremony to visit the six female generals, pray for blessings, welcome the army, and give thanks. Me Linh people and visitors from all over come to attend the festival, pick buds and pray for good luck. Folk games take place bustlingly amid the bustling sound of drums. Tet is coming, spring is coming, we invite you to go up the Red River, to the ancient land of Me Linh to visit Hai Ba Trung to calm down and foster the pride and self-respect of the Lac Hong lineage.