Dong Quat communal house festival

Dong Quat communal house festival Dong Quat communal house festival is held on January 7 every year, in Khe Bo village, Cuong Loi commune, Dinh Lap district, Lang Son province. It is one of the major festivals of Dinh Lap district, attracting a large number of people in Cuong Loi commune as well as communes in Dinh Lap district to participate in the festival. Dong Quat communal house festival takes place every year with the meaning of honoring and remembering the merits of the god Lo Van Pa (ie Lu Van Ba). Through studying the translation of the royal decree of King Khai Dinh on July 25, 9th year (1924), it is known that the god Lo Van Pa - is a deity with meritorious services to the villagers. He was granted the rank of Middle Class God by the court and is worshiped by the people at the communal house. In addition, the communal house also worships two other gods (Lo Nhi Cong and Lo Tam Cong - Lo Van Pa's two younger siblings). Besides, in the years 1940 - 1945, Dong Quat Communal House relic was also one of the contact locations and military bases of our soldiers fighting the Nazis, French and Japanese enemies. Although the main festival is on January 7, preparations have been carried out by the organizing committee quite early, usually around the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month, the People's Committee of Cuong Loi commune establishes a number of sub-committees to serve this festival: Steering sub-committee, Ceremony sub-committee, Security sub-committee, Logistics sub-committee.... Households in the village meet together and assign themselves tasks to clean up plants and clean the grounds around the communal house. The person assigned to take care of the communal house opened the communal house's door the first time on December 25, and the second time in the early morning of January 6 to clean the communal house again before the festival. Before cleaning, the villagers must perform a small ceremony to report what they intend to do to the tutelary god. Before starting to clean up, the villagers gather at the door of the communal house and hold a small ceremony - this ceremony is used to use the money donated to the communal house each year. The small ceremony, if conditions allow, will include 1 pig for meat, if not, only 2-3 chickens, accompanied by fruits and gold incense for the ceremony. Ceremony: Every year, at 6 o'clock on the 7th of the first lunar month, the celebrant sets up a ceremony tray at Dong Quat Communal House, including: 1 roasted pig, sticky rice, chicken, fruits, and golden incense, then the celebrant holds a ceremony to ask for yin and yang so that the village can open the festival. When the gods agree, the celebrant will signal to poke the pig's blood to get the pig's blood to offer raw, then bring the whole pork to roast. This finished pig must be offered along with the internal organs after being roasted... the celebrant performs rituals to pray for good weather, good weather, prosperity of the people, and prosperity... Festival: After the ceremony, the celebrant will be the first to beat the drum to announce to the gods that the opening time of the festival has arrived. Next, the organizers will sound the drum to announce the opening time to the people. The Dong Quat communal house festival is organized with traditional folk games: climbing fat poles, throwing shuttlecocks, playing soccer... - Climbing the pole: There needs to be a large area of land, the apricot tree's bark must be scraped and greased, buried in the ground, then the participant who climbs to the top of the pole first will be the winner. - Throwing bamboo baskets: The spherical "con" fruit is as big as a child's fist, sewn with many colored fabric segments, stuffed with rice and cotton seeds inside (rice feeds people, cotton provides yarn for weaving fabric). The fruit also has colorful fabric tassels that decorate and serve as a guide during flight. The throwing field is also a large field of land, in the middle of which is buried a tall bamboo tree (or pot), on top there is a circular "conservatory ring" (concussion frame), one side of the frame is covered with red paper (symbolizing the sun), the other side is pasted with yellow paper (symbolizing the moon). The entire surface of the paper is a symbol of a girl's virginity. Players stand facing each other across the shuttlecock and throw the shuttlecock through the ring and on top of the pole to win. - Soccer: with the participation of village football teams in the commune, each team has 11 people, competing in a knockout competition, the last two winning teams will enter the final match. The festival reminds each person of the sense of origin, the good tradition of "drinking water, remember the source" of the nation and good traditional cultural values. Dong Quat communal house festival is held annually with traditional rituals and folk games of the region maintained and widely spread to all generations, especially the young generation - those who have the role of preserving and maintaining the cultural identity of the region. Going to festivals, people behave and respond... to each other more politely, affectionately, and respectfully. Those habits are maintained and spread to become the common good cultural nuances of the entire family, and more broadly, of the entire village and commune./.