Festival highlights global value of Con Son - Kiep Bac special national relic

August Father's death anniversary

Festivals are one of the important factors that increase the historical and cultural value of each relic. The Con Son - Kiep Bac Festival most clearly demonstrates this.

"August is the anniversary of Father's death, March is the anniversary of Mother's death". This year's Con Son - Kiep Bac Autumn Festival, most of the activities take place at Kiep Bac Temple, the place of worship for the national hero, Duke and Commander-in-Chief of Hung Dao Dai Vuong Tran Quoc Tuan. This is also the place that marks the uncompromising fight of the Dai Viet army and people in the 13th century against the invasions of the Yuan-Mongol - the most powerful army in the world at that time.

This year's festival takes place in a particularly important context. Hai Duong will represent Quang Ninh and Bac Giang provinces to organize a worthy festival before the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism submits to the Prime Minister a dossier for UNESCO to recognize the Yen Tu - Vinh Nghiem - Con Son, Kiep Bac relic and landscape complex as a world cultural heritage. This year's autumn festival is the right time to announce it to the people, to domestic and foreign organizations to gain support for the heritage dossier.

According to the plan of the Organizing Committee, this year's Con Son - Kiep Bac Autumn Festival will be held with all traditional rituals, including both the ceremony and the festival. Unlike many years, this year the opening ceremony will be held on the evening of September 30 (the evening of August 16 of the lunar calendar). The same morning will open the Culture, Tourism and Trade Promotion Week. The week will be the largest ever with over 60 booths from Hai Duong and other provinces and cities. Along with that is the Memorial Ceremony for the 723rd death anniversary of National Hero Tran Hung Dao. The same night will be the Opening Ceremony of the Kiep Bac Temple. Like every year, the Opening Ceremony is an extremely important ritual for each autumn festival. Tens of thousands of local people and tourists always look forward to this event and wish to own one of the four sacred seals of Saint Tran.

The highlight of the autumn festival will be the majestic military gathering, recreating the Dong A spirit on the Luc Dau River, with the participation of many boats of inter-regional and inter-provincial fishermen.

Rituals that enhance heritage value

The Con Son - Kiep Bac Autumn Festival has special and unique values: sacredness, humanity and uniqueness.

Regarding the sacredness of the festival, it is the seal opening ceremony and the Saint worship ceremony. The rituals were concretized from the sacred human god Tran Hung Dao, who directly commanded the battles of the Tran Dynasty's army and people. Today, the four sacred seals of Saint Tran have become extremely important tools, creating faith for people to pray for peace, to exorcise demons, to seek protection, to protect the country and the people. The sacredness is also due to the ritual performance from the subject as the master of ceremonies performing the ritual, offering sacrifices...

According to documents, there are 4 types of seals including “Tran Trieu Hung Dao Vuong Chi An”, “Quoc Phap Dai Vuong”, “Van Duoc Linh Phu” and “Phi Thien Than Kiem Linh Phu”. The seal is one of 3 sacred magical objects that have been worshiped since ancient times including the divine flag, divine sword and seal. Before 1945, the annual Kiep Bac temple festival was presided over by mandarins in the court or provincial governors and district chiefs who directly stamped seals on memorials to pray for peace, prosperity, favorable weather, etc.

The autumn festival also has a profound humanity, expressed through the peace-praying ceremony and the lantern festival on the Luc Dau River. This ritual of praying for national peace and prosperity is essentially a prayer for the souls of the Tran Dynasty soldiers and civilians, and soldiers of various dynasties who fought on the river. But more humane and profound is that the ritual also prays for the souls of the Song and Yuan Mongol soldiers who died on the Luc Dau River and were reborn in the Pure Land. The profound humanity is also expressed in the offerings, rituals, and ceremonies of preparing each lantern to be released into the river. Each lantern carries the wishes of the living to express gratitude for the contributions of previous generations and to express the determination of future generations to always strive to preserve the peace and prosperity of the nation.

In 2006, Hai Duong province successfully restored the Army Festival on Luc Dau River. This is the only army festival in Vietnam, demonstrating the spirit and solidarity of the Dai Viet army and people against a powerful enemy. Every August, without anyone telling them, people working in the river from inter-regional and inter-provincial areas such as Hai Phong, Quang Ninh, Bac Giang... even though they are fishing far from shore, put down their oars to gather on Luc Dau River - a sacred and legendary river. The vessels are decorated like warships of the past. Fishermen dress up as soldiers with great spirit, spears and swords shining brightly. The cheers make the river roll. The heroic spirit of Dong A is recreated, demonstrating the heroic spirit of the Dai Viet army and people. Inter-regional and inter-provincial fishermen gather here to show their gratitude to Hung Dao Dai Vuong, whom they honor as the founder of the river profession.

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy Lien, Head of the Con Son - Kiep Bac Relic Management Board, up to this point, all organizational work has been completed in terms of content and form, ready for a successful festival, leaving a good impression on the people and tourists. In the Yen Tu - Vinh Nghiem - Con Son, Kiep Bac relic and scenic complex, while Quang Ninh and Bac Giang provinces only have spring festivals, Hai Duong has an autumn festival. This is a unique feature, an opportunity to enhance the value of the relic and scenic complex on the way to becoming a world cultural heritage.