Doi Son Tich Dien Festival

Doi Son Tich Dien Festival - Unique cultural feature Taking place on the 5th - 7th days of the Lunar New Year every year, Doi Son Tich Dien Festival (Duy Tien district, Ha Nam province) is a cultural beauty that evokes people's consciousness towards their roots, attracting a large number of people and tourists. The old story says that, in the spring of 987, for the first time, King Le Dai Hanh and his civil and military mandarins plowed the fields in Doi Son and caught a golden jar; The following year, the king plowed in Ban Hai and caught silver jars, so these fields were also called "silver fields". Since then, every year at the beginning of spring, the king personally goes to the fields to plow the fields, hold the field consecration ceremony, praying for a good harvest and a prosperous and happy life for all people. Following this custom, later dynasties maintained the Tich Dien Festival in different forms. After a long time of being lost, in 2009, Doi Son Tich Dien Festival was officially restored, recreating the legend of King Le Dai Hanh returning to the foot of Doi Mountain to plow fields to encourage agricultural development. Since then, the Tich Dien Festival has been held once a year at the local level and once every 5 years on a national scale.  Right before the main festival day, on the land of Doi Son, the atmosphere was bustling throughout the village and beyond with many exciting cultural and sports activities. On the afternoon of the 5th, the sound of festival drums rang out, attracting people and tourists to join in the procession of incense sticks to worship King Le Dai Hanh from Lang temple (Thanh Liem district) to Doi Son pagoda. On the morning of the 6th, there is a ceremony to process water from the village well to Doi Pagoda with special spiritual rituals, praying for a prosperous new year. In particular, some years there is also a buffalo painting contest. Artists from many parts of the country paint buffaloes with brightly colored paintings, with beautiful and strange patterns.  The next morning, on the 7th, the buffaloes were taken out to perform the Tich Dien ceremony. Amid the pounding sound of the famous Doi Tam craft village's drum ensemble, amid the warm cheers of local people and tourists, leaders and people jointly opened plowing paths and sowed the first seeds in the new year, expressing their wishes for a lush, bountiful harvest.  Coming to Ha Nam, visitors can also visit famous landmarks such as Tam Chuc - Ba Sao tourist area, Phu Ly river junction city, Long Doi Son pagoda; Visit from poet Nguyen Khuyen street, writer Nam Cao memorial area; Enjoy attractive specialties such as Nhan Hau braised fish, spring rolls, Dai Hoang bananas, vat wine... to have a memorable spring trip!