Van Sa Festival

Van Sa Festival Van Sa is a village located along the Red River, on a strip of fertile alluvial land in Tan Hong commune, Ba Vi district, Hanoi. The annual Van Sa Festival is held on the 4th and 5th days of the Lunar New Year to commemorate the merits of martyr Ngu Nuong and King Hue Vu, King Tran Quoc Chan. The festival center is the village's communal house and temple. On the 4th day, the village's military team led by the village chief, riding a horse, led an army of 12 - 14 soldiers, dressed in military uniforms. In front of the marching team, there is one person carrying the flag, one person holding the drum, and at the end of the formation is the person carrying the loudspeaker. The military team walked along the village's alleys and alleys, playing drums and using loudspeakers to announce the village's organization of the chieng festival, urging the responsible villagers to participate strictly according to the village's customs. On the 5th day of the main festival, people from all over eagerly flocked to see the festival. Starting early on the 5th day of the Lunar New Year, 8 zodiacs in the village voluntarily join two or three zodiacs together to form a procession. Every year, Phong Dang Hoa Coc has four or five processions in the eight borders, at least three processions. The guards organize a procession of palanquins, including eggs, fruit, sticky rice, chicken, areca nut, betel, wine, and flowers to display in the middle of the communal house. After that, the village organizes a procession carrying a palanquin of bowls of tribute (carried by 8 people) into the house of the most literate person in the village, asking for the altar text to be brought to the communal house to offer to the gods, called the literary procession. Throughout that morning, the elders respectfully held sacrifices before the heroic spirits of the village's tutelary gods. The festival takes place in the afternoon, at which time the neighbors from the hamlets organize a procession of cocoons to the communal house. The cocoon procession festival is very busy, with flower processions, spirit dances and games from the four villagers. The game of four people, Lac Nghiep is very attractive, the performers pretend to be four people, farmers, workers, and traders. The game of four people, Lac Nghiep takes place in Van Sa communal house yard at dusk, from 4 to 6 pm. First, the military team led by the chief on horseback performed in front of the village tutelary god to the villagers around the communal house yard. The last person holding the megaphone continued to announce the show. The most sacred moment is when the whole gathering waits for the door of Nha Ba temple to open, so that the village's young men can carry the image of the Holy Lady to the communal house yard. Picture of the Holy Lady Ngu Nuong, who had merit in fighting the enemy, resolutely riding on a horse. The person carrying the image threw it back and forth three times, then the image of the Holy Lady was solemnly returned to its place in the temple. After that, one side of the communal house gate opened to let the first procession of cocoons enter the yard. Everyone walked and danced around the communal house yard three times and then exited through the opposite gate of the communal house. In the past, when the pole attached to the cocoon system came out of the communal house, the villagers put the cocoon system on a wooden shelf and tied it securely. From up there, people will shake it hard to make the cocoon fall to the bottom, everyone in the festival will compete to steal it. Whoever steals many thought cocoons will have good luck in business that year. Nowadays, the person carrying the cocoon out of the communal house shakes the pole vigorously to make the cocoon fall so that the people at the festival can compete to steal it. After the first procession of cocoons came out, the villagers opened the communal house door again to let the second procession of cocoons enter and perform the same act as the first procession. Repeat this until the final procession. Nowadays, Van Sa villagers call the above game "trieng" with the meaning of demonstrating the professions of the four people, but in ancient times it was called "chieng" which means the fun of the village. Notably, in Trieu game, there is the custom of carrying cocoons and stealing cocoons. Some trustworthy old people say that: the process of carrying cocoons and robbing cocoons only appeared in the early decades of the 20th century, and before that, Van Sa people's ancestors called it procession of cocoons and robbing women. People believe that it is a village custom to periodically open the wort. If you neglect or do not do it, people born in that year will have little luck. Van Sa Festival is a quite typical craft village festival, also a festival associated with the fertility beliefs of the agricultural population. The custom of procession of flowers, procession of flowers and procession of image of Mrs. Ngu Nuong vividly demonstrates the Mother principle and the Vietnamese people's belief in fertility.