PU NHA THAU TEMPLE FESTIVAL

PU TEMPLE FESTIVAL NHA THAU-KY SON The festival is held on the 24-25th day of the first lunar month at Pu Nha Thau temple, in Huu Kiem commune, Ky Son district, Nghe An province. The Pu Nha Thau festival takes place every year with the following rituals: Opening ceremony, announcement ceremony, procession, great ceremony and thanksgiving ceremony. The festival took place vibrantly with cultural exchange activities, national costume competitions and folk games imbued with national cultural identity (tug of war, stick pushing, shuttlecock throwing, crossbow shooting...). This is an opportunity for ethnic people of Ky Son district to devote their spirituality and entertainment to start a new production season, and is also an opportunity to preserve and promote national cultural identity. Legend has it that, in ancient times, Princess La Binh, daughter of Son Tinh and Mi Nuong, was a person with a strong mind and talent, who liked to travel around the mountains, forests, and caves to guide and help good people, helping the village have a peaceful and prosperous life. With admiration, she was worshiped by people in 9 villages and 10 villages as Mau Thuong Ngan (mother of mountains and forests).  When the princess was no more, the people built a shrine. In the 13th century, the Ai Lao enemy invaded this land. Thai Thuong Emperor Tran Minh Tong many times tried to defeat the enemy and sent general Nhu Hai to command the Than Vu army and Nghe An army to defend and keep the southwestern border of the country. When entering Nam Nhung land in Moc Chau (now in Ky Son and Tuong Duong districts), the Tran Dynasty general chose a high mountain in Na Luong village, Huu Kiem commune as the center of the barracks to observe the enemy and have conditions to train soldiers. To protect the peaceful village, the people here contributed their efforts, provided food for the soldiers, and encouraged their children to join the army. Among them, there was an old woman who still encouraged her husband and children to join the fight. The husband worked as a soldier and fought directly, while the son was responsible for preserving the warehouse of weapons and food. That woman directly worked as a messenger, going up and down the mountain to supply military supplies. The enemy knew that our army was exercising in the mountains and found a plan to launch a surprise attack. But the commander of the Nhu Hai group promptly discovered it and sent his troops around the mountainside to the river junction to stop them. But unfortunately, they ambushed their elephants and horses at the Tiet La River and completely destroyed our army. The commander of the Nhu Hai regiment also sank and died at this river junction. After the death of the Nhu Hai group, the Tran court assigned the people of Nam Nhung hamlet to build a temple and organize sacrifices at the end of the year, after harvesting the crops. The mother who raised the army was no longer there and this high mountain was named Pu Nha Thau. The villagers honor this woman as the mother of the mountains and forests. Seeing the great merits of the Tran dynasty's governor and the sacrifice of the old mother who raised the army, the people of Na Luong village took their souls to worship at Thuong Ngan Mau Temple and built it into a temple. Since then, the people of the villages who come to burn incense often call it Tran Dynasty Temple or Pu Nha Thau Temple. During the resistance war against the Ming army, Le Loi led the insurgents from Thanh Hoa along the Upper Path to march towards Tra Lan region. When passing through this temple, he was warned by the gods in a dream to help Le Loi's army defeat the Ming invaders right at Tra Lan citadel. After the successful resistance war against the Ming army, the people held a thanksgiving ceremony at the temple.