Where is Hat Mon Temple Festival held?
Hat Mon Temple Festival is solemnly held at Hat Mon Temple, Hat Mon Commune, Phuc Tho District. This is a temple to worship Hai Ba Trung – two sisters who had the merit of raising an army to revolt against the Eastern Han army that invaded our country in AD 40. Besides other famous places to visit in Hanoi such as O Quan Chuong, Hat Mon Temple is also a spiritual destination that many people stop to admire and visit.
Hat Mon Temple Festival is solemnly held at Hat Mon Temple on the sixth day of the third lunar month
Hat Mon Temple is one of the three oldest and largest Hai Ba temples in our country. This place also bears many heroic historical marks of two great female generals, the people of Vietnam who have glorified the indomitable heroic tradition of Vietnamese women for generations. According to Hanoi legend, when Hai Ba died, the spiritual energy was formed into stone statues, following the flow of water, it was not until the Ly Dynasty that they reached the Thang Long area. In the first night of the second lunar month, two statues shone red on the Nhi river in front of Dong Nhan beach. At this time, the villagers respectfully took red cloth to tie the statue to bring Hai Ba to live at the temple. Therefore, at present, Hat Mon Temple is considered a place of relic, while the Temple of Hai Ba on Dong Nhan Street is a place of relic, while the temple in Me Linh is the place where Hai Ba was born and lived.
The relic of Hat Mon Temple is a unique architectural and artistic complex, built in the north of the ancient village, on an area of more than 3 hectares. In front of the temple is a turtle mound and the Hat River flows from the right to the left. Legend has it that, people started building the temple when Hai Ba threw herself into the Hat river to preserve her daughter’s virginity when she was defeated. Hat Mon Temple is a place associated with three legends related to the heroic uprising of Hai Ba Trung: Hai Ba chose this land as the place to raise the flag of insurrection; When they won, Hai Ba came back here to wait for the army, wash and clean to claim the king; This is where Hai Ba threw herself into the Hat River to avoid the capture of the enemy.
The temple currently retains the old architecture with many main works
After many restorations, today’s Hat Mon Temple still retains its original architecture with the main works including the Fairy shop, the Temple of Temperance, the ritual house, the communal house, the altar, the three mandarins, the sacrifices. middle street, harem, left huu mou, Mound An An, memorial house of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Dinh, guest house, auxiliary area, etc.
In particular, the most important architectural item is Dai Bai – the main temple built in the most pre-familiar style. In addition, the area of the Burning House and the harem inside is made of a double-roof stack of matches, a gable wall and intricate carvings. Currently, the temple is a place to display many precious antiques with historical value and bold artistic style of carvings of the Le – Nguyen dynasties, such as diaphragms, couplets, ancient letters created by officials, people, and people. Artists in the region pay their respects to Hai Ba and the original statue of Hai Ba.
2 Meaning of Hat Mon Temple Festival
Legend has it that, after defeating the Eastern Han army, sending the army to chase the prefect To Dinh back to Han to repay the country’s debts and enemies, Hai Ba was honored as a king, then based the capital in Me Linh. In 43, the Han king sent the famous general Ma Vien with 20,000 troops, two thousand boats and luxury cars to invade our country again. After a year of heroic resistance, because of weakness, our troops were forced to retreat to the entrenched Cam Khe area. When passing through the old base area the day before, Hai Ba stopped at an old woman’s roadside restaurant, each ate a plate of floating cakes and two spoons, then threw themselves into the river of Songs to avoid falling into the hands of the people. war. It is the sixth day of the third lunar month.
To commemorate the merits of the Hai Ba, so on the 6th day of the third lunar month every meal, the local people organize the Hat Mon Temple Festival which is organized in detail and carefully for everyone to admire. towards the origin of the nation as well as expressing respect and gratitude to the two heroic female generals of the country in the past.
The festival is an occasion to express gratitude to Hai Ba
More specifically, because the local people believe that the blood of Hai Ba and the three soldiers and soldiers poured down to paint the mountains and rivers, all the altars in the temple are painted in black and red. . People participating in sacrifices and festivals are not allowed to wear red costumes. Besides, associated with the relic, everything in the temple goes hand in hand with two incense sticks, two long thrones, two processions, and two incense burners. When conducting the great ceremony, there are also two celebrants, two people reading the testament, etc. This is a unique feature that only appears at the Hat Mon Temple Festival to commemorate the merits of Hai Ba.
3 How many parts does Hat Mon Temple Festival have?
Hat Mon Temple Festival is divided into two main parts, including the ceremony and the festival. In particular, the most prominent part is the ceremony with the great offering of floating cakes – a kind of holy cake in the beliefs of local people, associated with the story of Hai Ba visiting a roadside restaurant to eat two plates of floating cake with two people. the fruit before throwing himself into the river of Hat. So actually, what’s special about the festival and festival of Hat Mon temple festival, let’s find out with MIA.vn.
For a long time, the festival of offering floating cakes has always been an important part of the Hat Mon Temple Festival. This is an opportunity for people to show respect and respect for Hai Ba. That’s why people often say that, as long as they are Hat Mon villagers, wherever they go, on the occasion of the Lunar New Year until the morning of the sixth day of the third lunar month, they all abstain from eating floating cakes.
According to custom, before the festival of Hat Mon Temple, people in the village will choose a family with enough children and grandchildren to make a house for the ceremony. At this time, the elderly in the ceremony will come to make floating cakes to prepare to offer to Hai Ba. The rice used to make the cake must be high-quality yellow-flowered glutinous rice with a delicious taste. In addition, water for making cakes must be water taken from pure sacred wells, also known as faithful water. Drift cake is made very elaborately, when ripe, it is clear white, round and not crushed, about the size of a plum and must be a vegetarian cake.
Dumplings offering ceremony on the day of Hat Mon Temple Festival
On the morning of the 6th of March, everyone will come together to offer a floating cake offering to Nhi King Hai Ba Trung. At this time, the families in the new village offer cakes to their ancestors in turn. In the afternoon of the same day, everyone held a party, then invited guests to come to the house to enjoy floating cakes. Besides, the small dike shop that Hai Ba used to come to enjoy cake, now still exists and the locals built a small temple right there, named the temple of the vendors, near the entrance. Temple of the Second King Hai Ba Trung.
On the day of the festival, the procession will wear solemn costumes and hold the five-color flag
In addition, in the ceremony of Hat Mon Temple Festival, there is also a great incense offering ceremony at Hai Ba Temple. When conducting the great ceremony, there will be two people presiding over the ceremony, two people reading the testament to express the merits of the two ladies. When reading the will, two teams of female soldiers wearing brown shirts and holding weapons stand neatly on both sides, two people holding two silk fans about one meter long, two people holding fans to cover the two wills to show respect. respect for the glorious merits of Hai Ba the day before.
After the ceremony ended, the festival part of Hat Mon Temple Festival officially started. In the festival, everyone will join together in many interesting cultural and sports activities such as tug of war, human chess, chess, blindfolded pot beating, quan ho singing, etc.
Hat Mon Temple Festival takes place with many interesting activities
Hat Mon Temple Festival is an opportunity for people to express their respect and gratitude to the Second King Hai Ba Trung – the two brave and illustrious female kings of the nation in the past. If you have the opportunity to start your journey to discover Hanoi in the first days of the new year, you must definitely visit this special festival.
Source: Collected internet.