Cultural life

Unique Festival of King Hung's Procession to Celebrate Tet

VAN THANH April 8, 2025 11:00

Among hundreds of bustling folk festivals of the Ancestral Land, there is a unique festival, associated with the worship of Hung Kings. That is the festival of welcoming King Hung to celebrate Tet of the people of He village.

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Festival of the procession of the Lady of Vi village - Treo village

People raced to bring the King home for Tet

Treo village, Hy Cuong commune and Vi village, Chu Hoa commune (both in Viet Tri city) are located near the foot of Nghia Linh central mountain, and joined hands to build Hung Temple, which was originally just a small temple. He village festival (the old name of Vi and Treo villages) has a very unique activity of welcoming King Hung home for Tet.

Legend has it that on the last day of the year, the 18th Hung King went up to Nghia Linh mountain and issued an edict: “The Hung dynasty has come to an end. I have no son to succeed me, only two daughters who have both married far away. I am very sad, and another national disaster has occurred. Lord Thuc is arrogant day and night, plotting to usurp my legacy. He has now attacked the Co Loa region. Recently, he has also attacked the Bo Sao and Huong Cham regions, not far from the capital. I am worried, so I have to leave my son-in-law Tan Vien Son (ie Nguyen Tuan) to stay and guard the capital.

We went to Nghia Linh, which was a place our ancestors had passed down in the past, knowing that it was a dangerous but peaceful place where we could set up a base.

The decree was issued near the end of the year.

Hearing the news, people from two villages came to pay their respects and invited the King to their village to celebrate Tet. The King asked where they were from, and one village replied:

- We are in Song Thao.

The other wing said, we are at Lo River. The king said:

- I thank you all, but I am alone, I cannot go to both sides. Going to one side will upset the other. Now I declare that, at midnight tonight, whichever side I hear the rooster crowing and the dog barking closer, I will go to that side to celebrate Tet.

The people of the two villages said goodbye and left. That very night, the people of He village and Thao river discussed quickly bringing bamboo and leaves to the foot of the mountain to set up camp, bringing along a number of young men with rudimentary weapons for self-defense, along with a few strong roosters and a few dogs. At exactly midnight, they teased the dogs by biting and tickling the roosters' necks to make them crow in competition.

In the morning, the king sent someone down to ask where this was. The people replied:

- We are villagers of He Song Thao.

The generals reported to the king. The king said:

- Then I will return to He village, Thao river to celebrate Tet with the people, to fulfill my promise.

The journey began, the military officers rode pink horses in front. The civil officers rode white horses behind. The king rode a black elephant in the middle. The army reached the royal procession pavilion and saw the people gathered, flags flying high in the sky. Suddenly a strong wind blew, changing the direction of the flags. Seeing this, the villagers gathered together, clasped their hands, and invited the king to get off the elephant and onto the palanquin so that the people could carry him back to the village. From then on, this place was called the King's Procession Hill. When the king was brought into the house, the people hung a bed high for the king to sit on (called a gourd bed), and the officers sat on both sides. That day was the 25th of December.

Seeing that it was already noon, the sun was about to set, but nothing had been cooked yet because the butchers were so excited that they had gone to see the villagers welcoming the king, and had forgotten to prepare the food. The old men and dignitaries discussed:

- It's already noon, butchering cows and pigs will take too long, our village should quickly slaughter some chickens to make rice to offer to the king. The soaked sticky rice will be steamed.

So that day, the king and the village representatives drank wine, ate sticky rice with chicken. While eating, the villagers explained the reason to the king. The king said: "I will come back here to celebrate Tet with the people for a long time. This meal is enough, we should not make a big feast. During this Tet, the people should try to practice xoan songs, dum songs, humorous games, and hundreds of arts for entertainment; and I will inform my daughter to come here to celebrate Tet with me to relieve her boredom."

By the 26th of Tet, work had stabilized, people discussed slaughtering pigs for a feast, cooking sweet soup, bananas, oranges, and sugarcane; after eating, they drank five-flavor tea. Until the 30th of Tet, they still ate like that. On the night of the 30th of Tet, there was news that the princess had arrived, but last night, for some unknown reason, Princess Ngoc Hoa got lost in the forest, and the army had to search for her for a long time before she found her. The princess was panicked and afraid in the middle of the night in the forest, and suddenly became speechless.

When the king heard the news, he immediately ordered: “Everyone quickly find a broken tool such as a broken plow, a blunt hoe, a chipped knife or sickle, bring it to the place where the princess is resting, sing and dance around, and have some fun.” The villagers obeyed and did as instructed. As a result, the princess gradually woke up. Seeing the villagers singing and dancing around, the princess laughed and happily chatted as usual. The villagers cheered and welcomed the princess back to the village to celebrate Tet with her father the King.

Play for the King

On the 30th night of Tet, around midnight, the villagers prepared a feast with chicken, sticky rice, sweet soup, and bananas to offer to the king (called New Year's Eve). On the 2nd day of Tet, they slaughtered a pig. The King told them to mix some meat with green beans to make a cake filling, and the people followed suit, so it was called "hem pig". On the 4th day of Tet, early in the morning, the villagers organized a group of young men to gather in Dau field, strip naked to compete in capturing the flag. When they took off their shirts, everyone was shivering with cold. The King said: "You all gather around and wrestle to keep warm." As soon as the King finished speaking, the villagers formed teams of young men, lined up horizontally, and when the signal was given, they all ran to the place where the flag was planted to compete. Whoever reached the finish line first, the team with someone capturing the flag was the winner (champion), so it was called "running against the enemy".

Then the whole village went to the host's house. (the person chosen by the villagers to perform the ceremony) brought two jet-black pigs and released them in a wide open space next to the field next to the village. The people surrounded them, beat gongs and drums to entertain them and forced the pigs to be too tired to run (called the pig corralling custom), then brought the pigs back to the King to ask for permission to slaughter them (called the province of slaughter).)...

On the night of the 5th day of Tet, the villagers brought rice, sugarcane and sticky rice to show the king that they had a good harvest last year; then they wrapped the sticky rice in leaves and tied them tightly (called cua). They tied the rice into handfuls to present to the king on the evening of the 6th day of Tet to entertain (also called trinh tro). On the evening of the 6th day of Tet, the villagers selected a few big and fat roosters to present to the king, boasting that they had raised them well, then asked permission to kill them (called su ga). They also cooked sticky rice and sweet soup, put bananas on trays and presented them to the king. After eating and drinking, the boys and girls in the village brought out their loads of rice and sugarcane tops, put them on their shoulders, lined them up, ran back and forth, cheered, and played gongs and drums to entertain, then brought them out to feed the king's elephants and horses.

On the 7th day of Tet, the villagers organized the Tet celebration again. At noon, they brought flags, incense altars to the communal house, and stood guard with lights and incense. The master of the ceremony was very urgent, waiting for the east wind to turn the flags to fly towards the village, then he would prepare to welcome the King back to Nghia Linh. On one hand, the villagers sent people to prepare the sacrificial food, on the other hand, they waited for the evening for the boys and girls in the village to bring out their farming tools to run and cheer like the day before. The difference was that on that day, while performing the act, the boys and girls made wriggling movements, bumped into each other, and laughed to their hearts' content. Afterwards, everyone rushed in to grab the objects and take them home (that's why it was called the tung ri act).

The next day, the 8th day of Tet, the King returned to the capital. The villagers saw him off, killed chickens and cooked sticky rice to offer to the King, and at the same time turned elephants and horses into votive offerings (called a "party").).

According to ancient documents and elders in the village, the details of the procession of the King home for Tet are still performed by villagers in annual festivals. Due to historical events, over a long period of time, the festival of the King home for Tet was lost.

In 2011, the local government and local people organized a restoration of the festival, leaving a good impression on the minds of the people in the area about a unique traditional ceremony and festival of the descendants of the Hung Kings. To this day, the festival of welcoming the Hung Kings to the village to celebrate Tet is still a unique cultural activity in the Hung King worship belief in Vietnam.

VAN THANH
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Unique Festival of King Hung's Procession to Celebrate Tet