THANH NÊ VILLAGE FESTIVAL

Thanh Nê Communal House currently worships the Four Great Deities Dong Hai, Phuc Giang, Minh Ly, and Giang Hai, but mainly Great King Dong Hai, while the others are worshipped secondarily. Today local people still maintain worship of these deities; there were a total of 20 royal edicts, but they have now been stolen. Every year, the people still maintain ceremonies, incense offerings, festival days, death anniversaries, and hold the festival to commemorate the village's tutelary deities.

Thanh Nê Village Festival is currently stipulated to be held every 3-4 years, over 2 days, from the 9th to 10th day of the second lunar month. In festival years, the village still maintains the deity worship ceremony.

From the 9th: in the morning, local people and the festival organizing committee carry out preparations such as setting up tents, hanging flags, cleaning the altars and ceremonial objects and palanquins. The elderly men perform the bathing ceremony, wipe the deity statues, and arrange offerings. In the afternoon or evening, the festival organizing committee performs the worship ceremony.

In the evening, there is a cultural and artistic exchange activity among the public.

Day 10: In the morning, the procession includes teams of deity flags, pairs of ceremonial weapons, one octagonal palanquin carrying incense, the male worship team, and the incense-offering team; they process from the communal house around the village to the shrine of the local tutelary deity Princess Phuong Dung and then around the village.

After processing back to the communal house, the organizing committee carries the incense bowl into the forbidden chamber and places it there. The male worship team, consisting of 12 people aged 50 and over, performs the worship ritual. The sequence is: striking the drums and gongs to begin, checking the offerings, offering three rounds of wine, reading the prayer, and burning the prayer. Next is the incense-offering team, made up of women also aged 50 and over, who offer incense, flowers, fruit, tea, etc.

The village holds the festival and organizes folk games such as tug of war, pot smashing, human chess chase, etc. In the afternoon, Princess Phuong Dung is processed back to the shrine and a thank-offering ceremony is held. On this day, the village holds a communal feast to celebrate the village festival. The local people and families in the village all prepare offerings to present to the deities, praying for blessings and peace. The offerings mainly include fruit, cakes and sweets, oan cakes, bananas, etc.