Bac Le Temple Festival

Bac Le Temple Festival - Spiritual cultural beauty Held on the 20th day of the 9th lunar month every year, Bac Le Temple Festival has become a spiritual tourist destination for Vietnamese people in all parts of the country, contributing greatly to promoting cultural values ​​and developing tourism in Lang Son province. Bac Le Temple has another name, "Bac Le Linh Tu", also known as "Bac Le Cong Dong", located in Tan Thanh commune, Huu Lung district, Lang Son province. The temple is located on a high hill, under the shadow of hundreds of years old trees. According to history books, Bac Le Temple was built around the 16th and 17th centuries. Over the years, the temple has been restored and embellished many times but still retains the beauty of the ancient architecture and valuable ancient relics such as: 19 large and small statues made from jackfruit wood, delicately carved horizontal panels and parallel sentences through generations. Bac Le Temple was ranked a spiritual historical relic by Lang Son province in 1992. Bac Le Temple is considered one of the three main places of worship of Mother Goddess Thuong Ngan - one of the three goddesses of the Three Holy Mother Goddesses in Vietnamese Mother Goddess worship beliefs: Mother Goddess Thuong Thien governs the sky region, Mother Thuong Ngan governs the forest and mountain region, Mother Thuy (Mother Thoai) governs the river region. According to legends and adoration texts, Bac Le Temple is the place where Mother Thuong Ngan appeared and had a sound; Suoi Mo Temple is a relic that leaves traces of the ancient monk practicing Buddhism, and Dong Cuong Temple is the place where she was born and resided. In addition, worshiped in the temple is also Chau Be - a famous saint in the Four Palaces of Chau Ba. Legend has it that Chau Be is a real person from Bac Le. Here, Chau Be can act on behalf of the Mothers to carry out the Mothers' creative intentions. The main temple has a Dinh-shaped structure including an altar and a harem. The roof of the front house has a statue of a dragon flanking Dich Nghi - symbolizing heaven and earth, yin and yang - yin and yang are in harmony and all things proliferate. The main festival of Bac Le Temple is held on the 20th day of the 9th lunar month every year, attracting thousands of people to worship and visit. Bac Le temple festival includes main ceremonies: Throne bathing, main banquet and procession. At the Throne Bathing Ceremony, people take spring water from Bac Le Temple to clean the statue of the First Mother of Thuong Ngan and the throne of their father, the Jade Emperor. The main ceremony always has a feast of sacrificial animals (pig, chicken, fish), in addition to many other offerings such as elephants, horses, boats, hats, dolls,... made of paper. A banquet of three students is given to the Council committee, to the Five Honored Men, a vegetarian meal (sometimes even salty) is given to the Mother Goddess,... After that, the procession takes the Mother Goddess to see the festival amid the bustling sound of gongs and drums. The procession went to Deo Keng temple (a relic related to Bac Le temple) for the ceremony. After the sacrifice, the people returned to Bac Le temple to hold the great ceremony... The atmosphere of the ceremony was mixed with the bustling sound of gongs and drums with the music and colorful costumes of the dance of making money. In the consciousness of local people, Bac Le Temple Festival is like the big Tet of the year. Over hundreds of years, it has gradually become a place for cultural and religious activities of local people, contributing to economic development as well as adding beauty to the cultural diversity of Lang Son past and present. Along with historical and cultural values, Bac Le Temple and Bac Le Temple Festival are also becoming a destination for Vietnamese people in all regions of the country with sincere and pure belief in the Immortals, in the Mother Goddess - the sacred Mother of the nation. All of these values ​​have made the Bac Le temple festival one of the most famous festivals in Vietnam.