Hoi Phu Village Festival

Not many communal houses worship two kings – generals from two different eras – like Hoi Phu Communal House. This place bears the mark of Trieu Viet Vuong – who once established a base in Da Trach Marsh to fight the Liang army – and also worships Dao Ky and Phuong Dung, a general couple from the time of the Trung Sisters.

At Hoi Phu, every horizontal plaque and every couplet hung in the communal house carries a story from a distant era.

The Hoi Phu Communal House Festival dates back to the French colonial period, around the Giap Ty year. The communal house worships Trieu Viet Vuong – that is, Trieu Quang Phuc, son of Trieu Tuc, from Chu Dien district – together with the couple Dao Ky and Phuong Dung.

The book Dai Viet Su Ky Toan Thu records that Trieu Quang Phuc was mighty and strong, followed Ly Nam De to fight and suppress rebellions, and made achievements as Left General. When Tran Ba Tien brought troops to attack in 546 and 547, Ly Nam De was unprepared, so he failed and had to retreat to Khuat Lao Cave, entrusting state affairs to Trieu Quang Phuc and sending troops to fight Ba Tien. Ba Tien's troops were numerous; Quang Phuc judged that he could not match them, so he retreated to Da Trach Marsh in Chu Dien district – a place with dense vegetation and mud all around, accessible only by dugout canoe along familiar routes; those who did not know the way and fell into the water would be bitten to death by snakes. He knew the routes by heart, led twenty thousand troops into the marsh, kept no smoke or fire visible by day, and brought troops out to fight at night, using prolonged guerrilla tactics to hold out against the Liang army. The people of the country called him Da Trach Vuong. In 548, when Ly Nam De died, Trieu Quang Phuc proclaimed himself Viet Vuong, established his capital at Long Bien and then Vu Ninh, and reigned for 23 years.

In the legends of the Hoi Phu people, this was once the place where Trieu Quang Phuc established his main headquarters and raised troops from Coi Giang. The spirit record still notes that he recruited 42 young men from this area to fight the enemy; later he granted fields to the Hoi Phu people, and the people asked to build a living shrine to show their reverence. The village communal house still has the horizontal plaques 'Trieu Viet Vuong Tu' and 'De Vuong Su Nghiep', along with couplets praising his merits in the resistance war against the Liang army.

Also worshipped at Hoi Phu Communal House are the couple General Dao Ky and Phuong Dung – a story of loyalty and love tied to the Trung Sisters' uprising, when the two brought troops to pay respects, were granted titles, fought on the battlefield, and died near Co Loa; their graves rose side by side on the 16th day of the seventh lunar month. Later kings conferred on them the title of Upper-rank deity; every year on their birth and death anniversaries, the people of the Coi area – including Hoi Phu – organize ceremonies and festivals in remembrance.

The main worship ceremony takes place on the 15th day of the third lunar month. In major festival years, the festival lasts from the 13th to the 15th; in ordinary festival years, from the 14th to the 15th. On the 13th, in the morning the ritual objects are cleaned and the relic site is tidied; in the afternoon, people visit the martyrs' cemetery. On the 14th, at seven in the morning, a palanquin procession is held from the communal house to the tomb area of General Dao Ky in Phuc Tho village. The procession is led by a great spirit flag and the national flag, followed by forty flags in pairs, a sword team with eight treasures, drums and gongs, an eight-tone music band, an incense table, an eight-sedan palanquin, a male ritual team, a female incense-offering team, and the people. At the tomb, officials perform the ceremony, people take turns offering incense, and then the palanquin procession returns to the communal house for the ceremony. In the afternoon, there are air volleyball, Chinese chess, and health exercises.

On the 15th – the main festival day – at seven in the morning, the two elder villages of Phuc Xa and Dong Ngan and delegations are welcomed; at seven thirty, the main festival ceremony is held with the male ritual team following traditional order: drums and gongs sound, offerings are checked, hands are washed with ginger water, incense is offered, wine is offered, the invocation is read, the invocation is burned, and the ceremony concludes; the elderly women offer incense with simpler gestures right in the communal house yard. At eight thirty, the festival opens; at eleven thirty, the people receive the blessed offerings. In the afternoon there are games, sports, quan ho singing, and then the festival ends. For the Hoi Phu people, the village festival is an occasion to remember their ancestors, better understand the principle of remembering the source when drinking water, and also an opportunity for everyone to exchange and bond after hard days of work.