Place:
At Thập
Cửu Tiên Công Temple (Temple of the 19 Founding Fathers) in Cẩm La
Commune on Hà Nam Island, Yên Hưng District. Time: Every
year, the village starts the festivities on the seventh day of the
first lunar month. Significance: In
commemorating the 19 founding fathers who built dykes, created the
populated island of today.
Legend has it; the
festival opening day was the day founding fathers discovered an
underground fresh water on the island, more than 500 years ago. At Tiên Công Temple,
dignitaries present themselves to the founding fathers, then
choose four elderly men to assist them in the ritual of
ground-breaking. On
the seventh day, the senior men of the village (all older than 70
years old), along with their children and grandchildren, arrive at
the temple. The young people carry offerings (include betel and
areca, wine, steamed glutinous rice, chicken or the head of a pig)
on their heads to the decorative cult tables. The elderly men
follow them, if need be, aided by their offspring. Every family
makes its own procession. All processions join together near the
temple make a jubilant and animated atmosphere but still sacred.
The old men present offerings and worship Tiên Công, the ceremony
generally ends at noon. Then, comes the
ground-breaking ritual: the four chosen men pick four balls of
earth and build a mockdyke in front of the
incense table of the founding fathers. They then perform acts of
wrestling to represent the “struggle against nature". This is to
continue the cause of those who built dykes on the sea to protect
the villages and hamlets of the island.
