Traditional festival of Thuy Lai village communal house

Traditional festival of Thuy Lai village communal house in Hanoi Time: January 6 - January 10 of the lunar calendar Thuy Lai traditional festival (Phu Kim commune, Thach That district, Hanoi) is held from January 6-10 of the lunar calendar every year. Each festival has its own specific rituals, on the 6th the gathering is held and the Moc Duc ceremony, on the 7th the procession is performed, on the 8th the chicken is examined, on the 9th the Thuong Nguyen ceremony is held, and on the 10th the funeral is held.  Thuy Lai is an ancient Vietnamese village on the banks of the Tich River, a place that marks many historical and cultural events. Legend has it that Sai restaurant is the tomb of the three village tutelary gods, located in a prime location on the field land of Thuy Lai village. Sai communal house and restaurant worship three generals of the Chu family. This is not only a place of worship but also a place where villagers organize traditional festivals expressing the spiritual culture of the village. The village's traditional festival takes place for 5 days from the 6th to the 10th. After the funeral and the Moc Duc ceremony on January 6, on the 7th, the villagers organize a procession and palanquin procession from the communal house to the Sai restaurant to invite the god from the Sai restaurant to the communal house to attend the festival with the villagers. When the procession reached Dong Don bridge, there was an order to stop and rest. During the break, everyone in the procession can enjoy a light meal in the fields according to ancient customs. The food is banh chung made with pure rice flour from the village. The procession takes place from afternoon until dusk before returning to the village communal house. Each person in the procession prepares a torch made of dry bamboo. When the order to light torches is given, the whole festival becomes a forest of torches. When the palanquin is carried back to the communal house, a settling ceremony is held. Afterwards, there will be a Cheo or Ca Tru performance in the communal house yard.  On January 8, a Chicken Examination Festival is held. Thuy Lai village has 4 borders (Doai border, East border, South border, North border), each border can compete with two chickens. Chicken raisers must be men assigned and appointed by the chief. When chickens are raised indoors, incense must be burned before feeding. The food is all pure grain, even and beautiful, with high nutritional content. After weighing the chicken, the chicken will be slaughtered as an offering to the Tutelary God. The chicken must be skillfully slaughtered, steamed, and its wings bent like a phoenix in flight. The cooked chicken is placed in the middle of the raspberries. The sticky rice is made with sticky rice grown from Thuy Lai fields. The water for making sticky rice must be taken from the well of Huong Ngai village. On the same day as the chicken and sticky rice contest, there is also a braised sweet soup contest.  Braised sweet soup is cooked from green beans and molasses. Not only do people choose beans and honey meticulously, they also have to stay up all night to cook a pot of delicious sweet soup. In addition, Thuy Lai village festival also has a rice blowing contest held in the communal house yard. Normally there will be 10 or more contestants, each pair includes 1 man and 1 woman. He walked ahead, carrying a clay pot on his shoulder, running slowly around the chessboard yard. She followed behind holding a torch to cook rice. The pot of rice that is the most cooked, delicious, and sticky will win the prize.  Thuy Lai village festival is associated with the wet rice growing tradition of the people here. The festival is an indispensable cultural activity during the beginning of the new year, praying for peace for the villagers and connecting residents in the community.