[Video] Unique Bach Hao Pagoda Festival

January 27, 2023 15:25

Bach Hao Pagoda Festival (also known as Hao Xa Pagoda) in Thanh Xa Commune (Thanh Ha) takes place for 3 days from January 4-6 every year. After 2 years of not being held due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, this year, the festival is bustling again, attracting thousands of visitors.

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On the morning of January 27 (January 6), the Bach Hao Pagoda festival opened with many special contents. During the ceremony, 4 villages participated in the procession of the royal decree and offered incense at the pagoda and the ancestral house. After the opening ceremony, the procession made a circle around the pagoda and the Thanh Hoang temple.

After the ceremony, the villages participate in the festival. This is the most anticipated part for the audience with the following contents: rowing competition, water-splashing competition, and duck-catching competition. The competitions take place along the Cua Chua River (a branch of the Huong River).

According to Ms. Pham Thi May, Party Secretary, Chairman of Thanh Xa Commune People's Committee, Head of the Festival Organizing Committee, the festival takes place every year but had to stop for the past 2 years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This year, local people are very excited because the festival is reopening. The commune has done a good job of preparing for the festival, ensuring traffic safety and security and order.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Quyen, a local resident, said: "It's been a few years since we've seen such a joyful and exciting festival atmosphere. The weather is cold, the teams splash water to cook rice on the boat and catch ducks, but everyone is very excited."

This is the first festival of Thanh Ha district in the new spring. Bach Hao Pagoda was built in 1011, under the reign of King Ly Thai To. At first, the pagoda was built simply with bamboo and wood. When King Tran Nhan Tong became a Buddhist monk, he visited and rebuilt the pagoda. Therefore, along with worshiping Buddha, Bach Hao Pagoda also worships King Tran Nhan Tong and three laymen in the village, Nguyen Danh Quang, Nguyen Danh Nguyen and Ly Dinh Khue. Next to the pagoda, there are three green stone thrones worshiping three tutelary gods next to the pagoda, which used to be the old tutelary god temple. The pagoda currently has 5 front rooms, 2 upper rooms, and 3 ancestral houses. In 1991 and 2004, the bell tower and the three-jewel temple of the pagoda were successively built. The pagoda also preserves many valuable historical, cultural and artistic artifacts such as 10 stone steles, dozens of woodblock prints of Buddhist scriptures with high value in terms of documentation and wood carving art, tower gardens, worship objects... In particular, the lotus stone pedestal with dragon and lotus petal patterns, 4 corners with the image of the Garuda bird wearing a lotus throne on top are exquisitely carved.

Bach Hao Pagoda was ranked as a national historical and cultural relic in 1993. In 2015, the Bach Hao Pagoda Traditional Festival was included in the list of national intangible cultural heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Below are some photos taken by Hai Duong Newspaper reporters at the Bach Hao Pagoda Festival:

Many visitors come to offer incense at the pagoda at the beginning of the new spring.

Villages hold a procession around the temple. The ceremony is carefully prepared.

An art performance at the opening ceremony of the temple festival

Teams compete in rowing on Cua Chua River. The competition recreates the merit of Thanh Hoang teaching people to row boats, demonstrating the martial spirit of people living in the river area.

During the cooking competition, the person on the boat must keep the fire burning and keep their team's rice pot safe, and must also prevent the other team from cooking by splashing water onto the other boat. However, to avoid turning off the stove, the rule states that the person splashing water cannot splash directly into the other team's stove.

Teams must keep their pot of rice from being extinguished by water splashed on it by another team so that the rice can cook within 20 minutes.

After the time was up, the teams brought their rice up for the Organizing Committee to score. Due to strong winds and splashing water, the teams' rice was not cooked as desired.

The organizers released a duck into the river and the teams chased after it to catch it. There was also the cheering of the spectators on the shore. The players who wanted to win had to jump into the river to catch the duck. Village 3 was excellent in catching the duck earlier than the other villages.