Anniversary Festival of the Goldsmith Craft

Ho Chi Minh City: Jewelry Craft Ancestor Anniversary Festival The Goldsmith Craft's Anniversary Festival takes place on 3 days, the 6th, 7th, and 8th of the second lunar month every year at Le Chau Assembly Hall, 586 Tran Hung Dao, District 5, Ho Chi Minh City. The festival is organized on a large scale, gathering thousands of people in the jewelry industry, not only from Ho Chi Minh City but also from the Southern provinces to attend and worship the founders of the jewelry industry. During the days of the festival, Le Chau Assembly Hall is brightly decorated, candles and incense are lit from inside to outside, making the death anniversary very solemn. Although the 7th is the main holiday, the sacrifices are prepared a few days before. The anniversary of the ancestors' death begins on the evening of February 6 with a ritual of worshiping the nation and the people, proclaiming the title of Vietnamese silversmith master of the Nguyen Dynasty kings to attendees, especially those in the profession who understand the origin of the profession. On the main festival day, February 7, three "Vien" offerings are made according to traditional death anniversary rituals. The first member worshiped Cham Minh at 8:00 a.m. to welcome the founder. The second stone is offered to the Chief Priest from 22:00 to 24:00. The third ceremony took place at 4:00 p.m. on February 8, paying tribute to those who contributed to building the Le Chau Assembly Hall. Vien is the name for each part of the ceremony. The banquet is conducted according to traditional rituals, offering offerings such as tea, cakes, fruit, roasted pork... In the banquet halls, the chief or vice president of the Le Chau Assembly Hall reads the funeral oration on the anniversary of the ancestors' death composed by the Cai Luong author Vien Cau, instead of the past, where there was only adoration and opera. The members of the temple's board of directors, dressed in ao dai and turbans, stood before the Patriarch's Tablet and bowed. Inside the temple, the silversmiths lit incense and offered fruit trays shaped like dragons, unicorns, tortoises, and phoenixes with respectful hearts and gratitude to those who had the merit of teaching the profession to grasshoppers, helping society and bringing a prosperous life to their families. If in the past, Le Chau Assembly Hall was an important meeting place for silversmiths in six provinces, today, Le Chau Assembly Hall has become a place for jewelers to express their gratitude to their ancestors. It is here that they also find spiritual strength to have more confidence in themselves and their career.