Unique Nam Dinh

Tran Temple festval in Tet Holiday

Tran temple festival in Tet holiday (Nam Dinh province)

Tran Temple festival in Tet holiday or we can call it the "deliver seal festival" is one of the most meaningful custom in Thien Truong district, Nam Dinh province of Vietnamese people during many years. For a long time of development, this festival is still kept remain and develop. This festival first appeared in the 13^th century (1239), under the Tran dynasty, it occurred as a kind of ritual to worship the ancestors. At that time, Thien Truong was not the capital of Vietnam. Because of the Chinese invasion made the whole royal family of Vietnamese move from Thang Long to Thien Truong, therefore, the people call this place "the capital of revolution" to encourage people take part in the fight against Chinese. For some centuries, the festival attracted a lot of people come to worship for luck, health and wealth.

Nowadays, Tran temple festival still attracts many people come, especially in Tet holiday, they come to Tran Temple to ask for the seal. They believe that the seal from this temple can bring them the luck and health for the whole year.

Normally, the ceremony of delivering the seal will have 2 parts: rituals and activities. The main ceremony happens one the full-moon day of the 1^st lunar month of Vietnamese calendar. But before the ceremony happens, in the 2^nd of this month, the manager board of the temple has to do another ceremony to ask the ancestors’ allowance for being able to deliver the seal to people who come on the full-moon day. At 10p.m of 14^th of the 1^st lunar month, the main ceremony begins with the ritual of bringing the seal box. Inside the box, there are two seals with different text: one seal will be: “Tran Temple”, the other is the sentence means “Tran dynasty will bring luck and happiness to everyone”.. 

Red seal in Tran temple

The next ritual on full moon day is made by 14 elderly people of Tu Mac village. The people (tourists) come to this festival will bring the offering into the temple and ask for a piece of paper with a red seal inside with the hope of a better year. 

Lucky paper from Tran temple

After the ritual finishes, it’s time for the activities. There are many interesting activities in that festival like: Cock fighting, wrestling, martial art performance, dragon dancing and many other kinds of performance. All the rituals and activities in that festival still remains the unique culture of Vietnam since Tran dynasty.

Some Tips when visiting Tran temple festival in Tet holiday

As the festival happens at night and it will be very crowded, therefore, these tips will be very helpful when you come to Tran Temple festival.

1. Be careful with your belongings.
2. Find a suitable place for parking your own vehicle.
3. Try to go with the group or you will get lost.
4.  Ask for price before using any kind of services there.
5. Check carefully about the quality of products before deciding.

Phu Giay Festival

Every year, in the spring, many people together come to Nam Dinh province to join the Phu Giay festival. 

Phu Giay ceremony

This festival takes place on 3^rd of the 3^rd lunar month. This is a festival to worship Lieu Hanh Mother, one of the 3 mothers of goddess of Vietnamese people. According to Vietnamese, Hanh Mother is the one who has the power and ability to take care of the sky or we can call her the mother of sky. The habbit of worshipping mother of goddess is very unique and you can only find in Vietnam. Normally, there will be 3 mothers: Mother of Sky, Mother of Mountain and Mother of the Water. And it can be considered that Nam Dinh province is the center of the spiritual life of Northern Vietnam. There are a lot of temples to worship these goddess as well as to worship many Kings in the past of our country. We believe that the third lunar month is time for celebrating the Death ceremony of our national mother, the eight lunar month is the time for celebrating the Death ceremony of our national father. Therefore, on 3^rd of 3^rd lunar month, many people come to Nam Dinh province, especially Vu Ban district to join in this ceremony.

Offering in Phu Giay festival

According to some legends and stories related to Hanh Mother, she was a fairy in Heaven, named Quynh Hoa Princess, she was the daughter of Jade emperor, because of breaking a cup made from pearl, she was forced to come to the Earth for 21 years to help people who were in troubles. When she came to Earth, wherever she went, she helped the people there to overcome troubles. So, many people decided to build up temples to memorise her contributions. After she died and come back to Heaven, she still tried to help people. That the reason why she was considered to be the national mother as well as one of the 4 immortality gods of Vietnam.

Hanh Mother

This festival lasts for many days. The most attractive activities in Phu Giay is the ceremony of bringing the palaquin of Mother to the main temple.

Palaquin Ceremony

The way is not too far, just about 1 km walk but it is always covered with a lot of people. In the ceremony, there will have traditional singings with the flags performance of 100 teenagers in uniform with red ribbons, yellow coats, green bells white trousers and red socks. Each of them will hold a 2 meter high stick and they will perform due to the drum rhythm.

Flag-men

moreover, tourists still have chances to see many other kinds of activities like dragon dancing, paraquin holding in Tien Huong Mountain. At night, tourists can go out and enjoy a very famous kind of traditional singing: Chau Van singing. Coming to Phu Giay, you can know more about the tradition of Vietnam as well as the spiritual custom in Tet Holiday.

Some Tips in Phu Giay festival:

1. Bring money with small value as offering
2. If you  need to exchange money, be careful with Vietnamese fake money use for the death (Votive paper)
3. Go with your group to avoid getting lost
4. Check carefully the quality of products you want to buy.