Hoi Giong is located at Phu Dong Temple and Soc Temple

Hoi Giong is a traditional festival of remembrance and praise of the victory of the hero Saint Giong, one of the four immortals of Vietnamese folk beliefs. The festival vividly simulates the movements of the games of Saint Giong and the people of Van Lang in the fight against the enemy, thereby raising public awareness about the ancient forms of tribal war; at the same time educating the patriotism, martial tradition, the strong will and independence of the nation. Giong Festival is held in many places in the Northern Delta but most typical is Hoi Giong in Phu Dong Temple and Soc Temple (Hanoi).

Hoi Giong Soc Son temple - Remembrance of the Saint who beat the enemy An

1. History

Hoi Giong at Soc temple (Phu Linh commune, Soc Son district, Hanoi) is held every 6 - 8 January lunar year. According to legend, after defeating An enemy , Phu Linh was the last stop of Thanh Giong before flying to heaven. To commemorate the merit of Duc Thanh, here, the people built the relic temple area of ​​Soc including 6 works: Ha temple (also known as Trinh temple), Dai Bi pagoda, Mau temple and Thuong temple (or Call Soc temple), Thanh Giong monument and beer house. In particular, Thuong temple is a place of worship of St. Giong and celebrates a festival with full of traditional rituals such as: Moc Duc ceremony; procession; incense offering ceremony; elephant and horse ceremony .

2. Cultural value

To prepare for the main festival, on the night of the 5th night, Moc Duc (bathing) ceremony was conducted to invite the Holy Ghost to attend. On the 6th day of the festival, the people of 8 villages in 6 communes around the relics of the Soc Temple temples such as Tan Minh, Tien Duoc, Phu Linh, Duc Hoa, Xuan Giang and Bac Phu presented the carefully prepared offerings. to the Holy See, pray to the blessing for the villagers to have a prosperous and happy life. In particular, the ceremony of offering bamboo flowers to Thuong temple of Ve Linh village (Phu Linh commune) was first organized. Bamboo flowers are made of bamboo sticks about 50cm long, about 1cm in diameter, and the bamboo heads are dyed and colored, symbolizing the horse whip of Thanh Giong. Bamboo flowers after rising to Thuong temple will be taken down to Ha temple and distributed to the participants to pray for good luck.

On the 7th day of the congregation (the holy day according to the legend), the scene of slashing enemy generals described the scene of Gi Giong slashing 3 final enemy generals at the foot of Ve Linh mountain before flying to heaven. By the afternoon of the 8th day, the large-scale elephant and paper horse ceremony was carried out to end the festival by fighting elephants and iron horses are two mascots associated with the process of Thanh Giong against the An enemy, protecting the young river bank. All visitors to the festival are looking forward to sharing elephants and horses to the river bank to be converted by faith, anyone who touches the Holy Ghost will be lucky in life.

During the festival, there are many folk games held such as cockfighting, Chinese chess, Ca trù singing, Cheo singing .

Hoi Giong in Phu Dong temple (Phu Dong commune, Gia Lam district, Hanoi) is held every 6-12 / 4 lunar year. According to legend, Phu Dong was the birthplace of the hero, Thanh Giong.

April 6: Organizing a water procession ceremony with the participation of all the generals, soldiers, wards and dancers of music and crowds of villagers.

April 7: Picking up the miao (bag flag and some other items) to Mau temple and process the vegetarian chariot (with rice and coffee) from Ha temple to Thuong temple to offer to the Holy Father. In the afternoon there is a procession of road visits with a meaning to explore the way to the battlefield.

April 8 : The leaders and prestigious leaders of 4 villages finalized the activities taking place in the festival.

April 9: (the association) receives flags from Ha temple to Thuong temple, dances "worship god", dances "catch tigers" and performs matches.

April 10 : Organizing the procession to approve troops and re-check weapons; Thanksgiving thanks to St. Giong and the army to celebrate victory.

April 11 : the procession of the water procession, the ritual of washing the air. A number of games and dance performances were also held.

April 12 : Organizing the flag-receiving procession, checking the battlefield from Dong Dam to Suoi Bia (where to go to the white flag to confirm the enemy has taken stock). In the afternoon, the news reported winning the battle to Heaven and ending the festival.

Giong Festival in Phu Dong Temple is likened to a large folk theater with hundreds of roles carried out according to a standardized scenario. In particular, each role contains very profound ideas such as 'Mr. Hieu' is the generals of Thanh Giong; ' Edict ' is the regular army of Thanh Giong; the ' Generals ' symbolize 28 invaders of An's house; 'The Tiger ' is an integrated army; The ' red shirt village' is an army of young scouts; ' Black village' is a militia .

Besides, the festival also has the procession such as ' Communal examination of the road ' is to scout the enemy; ' Water procession ' is for me to practice the weapons before I leave; ' Communion of Dong Dam ' is negotiation and calling for peace; ' Communion of Soi Bia ' is a stylized simulation of fierce battles .

The global outstanding value of Hoi Giong is expressed in that it is a preserved cultural phenomenon, circulating quite continuously and completely through generations. The festival also has the role of associating the community and contains many creative ideas, expressing the aspiration of the country to be peaceful, people have a prosperous and happy life.

In terms of art, Hoi Giong brings many beauty and values ​​of festivals such as processions, flag shops, drum shops, gong performance, folk performance, dancing and dancing, tiger dance .

On November 16 , 2010, in the city of Nairobi (capital of Kenya), during the 5th session of the Intergovernmental Committee under the 2003 Convention of UNESCO , Hoi Giong at Phu Dong temple and Soc temple was officially recognized as the representative intangible cultural heritage of humanity. UNESCO has briefly and fully acknowledged Hoi Giong, which is " A cultural museum of Vietnam, preserving many cultural and religious alluvial classes" .