Văn Thượng Village Festival

Văn Thượng Village, now part of Thượng Lộc Hamlet, Đông Anh Commune, Hanoi, is a village belonging to the 'Bát xã hộ nhi' that worships King An Dương Vương. After the Cổ Loa Festival on the 6th day of the first lunar month, on the 8th day of the first lunar month the people of Văn Thượng Village gather to hold the village's traditional festival to remember and honor King An Dương Vương, who had the merit of unifying the two tribes Âu Việt and Lạc Việt and establishing the Âu Lạc state.

To prepare for participation in the Bát xã hộ nhi Festival (Cổ Loa Festival) on the 6th day of the first lunar month and to organize the village festival on the 8th day of the first lunar month, work begins at the end of the 11th or the beginning of the 12th lunar month. The first task is to elect the 'Thủ hiệu', that is, the drum and gong player. The village must select a person who is well-rounded and morally upright according to the standards set by the village. The Thủ hiệu wears a folded scarf in the shape of the character 'nhân' on his head and Ký long shoes on his feet.

In addition, to prepare for the Bát xã Loa Thành Festival, Văn Thượng Village also establishes several teams: the servant team (attendants), the flag dance team, the team carrying the eight precious bronze objects, the eight-instrument band, the flag procession team, and the arrangement committee - the procession steering committee. At the same time, the village selects a number of young men who are strong and without disabilities to carry the palanquins (called quân chầu) and selects additional young men and women to carry flags in the procession. In addition, the village selects one person to read the ritual address, someone with good appearance, a good voice, a harmonious family, and an unblemished reputation.

Like the other hamlets and villages participating in the procession at the Bát xã Loa Thành Festival, Văn Thượng Village prepares two palanquins:

+ The bát cống palanquin: carries offerings to worship the King

+ The văn palanquin (On the afternoon of the 5th day of the first lunar month, the village elders took the văn palanquin to the shrine of Princess Mị Châu to welcome the princess back to the communal house).

One of the important contents of the village's festival preparation is the establishment of the ritual committee and the ritual team. The male ritual team consists of elderly men of the village, selected during the year, including men over 50 years old, whose families are unblemished and who are still healthy and lucid. The ritual formation includes 24 men, including the chief sacrificer, ritual officials, and assisting officials. The female ritual team also consists of women aged 45 and above, whose marriages are harmonious and complete. The female ritual formation includes 10 people, including 1 chief sacrificer (wearing a red robe) and 9 ritual officials (wearing yellow robes).

Preparation for the village festival is organized by the hamlet authorities and mass organizations (the Elderly Association, the Youth Union, the Women's Union, the Veterans Association, etc.). Among them, the Elderly Association holds the important responsibility for practicing the ritual ceremonies, while the Youth Union and the Women's Union are responsible for recording merits.

The offerings in the festival include: incense, flowers, fruit, oản, bỏng, wine, votive paper money, and incense.

From the afternoon of the 5th day of the first lunar month, the village elders took the văn palanquin to the shrine of Princess Mị Châu to welcome the princess back to the communal house. Early in the morning of the 6th day of the first lunar month, Văn Thượng Village's palanquin was carried to the courtyard of Thượng Temple (the temple to King An Dương Vương), where the Bát xã Loa Thành Festival is held. In the procession, Văn Thượng Village's palanquin was honored to be placed second, after Cổ Loa. Next came the palanquins of Mạch Tràng, Sằn Giã, Ngoại Sát, Đài Bi, Cầu Cả, and Thư Cưu. At the ceremony of Bát xã Loa Thành, Văn Thượng was honored to perform the task of 'Độc chúc' (reading the ritual address).

After participating in the procession at the Cổ Loa Festival, the authorities and people of Văn Thượng Village returned to organize the festival in their own village on the 8th day of the first lunar month.

On the morning of the 8th day of the first lunar month, in a sacred and solemn atmosphere at Văn Thượng Communal House, the village head of Văn Thượng read the opening speech of the festival, introducing the history of the formation and development of Văn Thượng Village and highlighting Văn Thượng's participation in and contribution to the 'Bát xã hộ nhi' festival.

Since ancient times, the communal house has been the place where the Văn Thượng Village festival is held. According to the village elders, it is not known when Văn Thượng Communal House was built; it is only known that the communal house has existed for a very long time. In 1949, because of war, the communal house was destroyed, and all the worship objects in it were burned.

In 1990, the Văn Thượng Hamlet authorities built a hamlet cultural house on the foundation of the old village communal house. In 1992, the village communal house was rebuilt 200 m from the old location. In 2007, Văn Thượng Communal House was rebuilt larger and more spacious. Funding came from the resettlement source for the construction of National Highway 5.

Văn Thượng Communal House has the structure of the character Đinh; the main hall includes 5 bays with 2 side wings and a rear sanctuary. The former objects of the communal house were completely burned. The current objects are new ones made in 2007, including: worship throne, offering trays, incense table, horizontal plaques, parallel sentences, long swords, votive horses, ornamental curtains, bát cống palanquin, văn palanquin, stone stele, etc. In addition, the communal house also has 02 royal edicts:

- The second royal edict, dated the 25th day of the 7th month of the 9th year of Khải Định (1924), bestowed on Văn Thượng Hamlet, Lực Canh Commune, Đông Anh District, Phúc Yên Province, which has worshipped Thục An Dương Vương. The god helped save the people and clearly showed merit. It had previously been granted edicts and was permitted to be worshipped as before.

- The first royal edict, dated the 25th day of the 7th month of the 9th year of Khải Định (1924); its content is an edict bestowed on Văn Thượng Hamlet, Lực Canh Commune, Đông Anh District, Phúc Yên Province, for worshipping the Royal Daughter Princess Mị Châu Tôn Thần, and it is worthy of being conferred the title Trai Tinh, Dực Bảo Trung Hưng, Trung Đẳng Thần.

The ritual ceremony at the Văn Thượng Village festival is almost the same as at the Bát xã Loa Thành Festival, divided into three stages: Sơ hiến, Á hiến, and Trung hiến, called Tam hiến (here hiến means offering wine).

The ceremony begins with the call: 'Khởi chinh cổ'; immediately the drum and gong sound in a long round, with one drumbeat followed by one gong beat, becoming more and more urgent, and then the musicians begin to play. When the music ends, the officials responsible inspect the offerings before the ceremony is offered to the King. Two ritual guides go first, followed by two inner attendants carrying lamps and candles inside to inspect the offerings. After the offerings have been inspected, the group goes out, and then the chief sacrificer and his officials perform their duties according to the calls of the East Cantor and West Cantor and the signals of the drum and gong. At this time, the chief sacrificer and the officials still stand solemnly in two rows in the ritual courtyard. Because the chief sacrificer performs the important duty of sacrificing to the god, before entering the sacrifice he must perform the 'Quán tẩy' ritual, that is, washing his hands in a basin of ginger water placed beside the courtyard. The East Cantor calls: 'Chủ tế quan tựu vị, bồi tế viên tựu vị'; then the chief sacrificer and the assistant sacrificers and assistant worshippers take their places on the mats one after another. The sacrifice aims to welcome and invite the god to attend the festival and enjoy the offerings; it is also an occasion for the villagers to praise the god, express gratitude to the god, and pray that the god protect the villagers.

The first ritual of the ceremony is the incense-offering ritual. This ritual is performed through the steps: phủng hương, phần hương, and thượng hương. An assistant sacrificer lights incense and gives it to the chief sacrificer to perform the ritual to the saint; then the chief sacrificer gives the incense back to the assistant sacrificer, and the two carry the incense into the rear sanctuary to offer it to the saint. Outside, the East Cantor calls: 'Nghênh thánh đế cúc cung bái'; then the chief sacrificer and the assistant worshippers prostrate four times according to the signals of the drum and gong; each time the East Cantor calls 'bái', all bow, and when the West Cantor calls 'hơn', all stand up. After completing the incense-offering ritual, everyone returns to their former positions.

The second ritual of the ceremony is the wine-offering ritual. This is the main and longest ritual of the ceremony. 'Hành sơ hiến lễ' is the first wine offering. Hearing the call 'nghệ tửu tôn sở', two other assistant sacrificers go to the table to receive the wine and cups and lift the cloth covering the wine. The two assistant sacrificers and the chief sacrificer go up to the first mat, before the incense table, and hear the East Cantor call 'nghênh thánh đế vị tiền'. When they reach the incense table, the two ritual guides and the two inner attendants stand on either side of the incense table, while the chief sacrificer and the assistant sacrificer kneel before the altar. The two assistant sacrificers pour wine into the cup; then the chief sacrificer performs the lễ tiến tước, that is, raising the wine to eyebrow level and returning it to the assistant sacrificer. When the East Cantor calls 'tiến tước', the two assistant sacrificers carry the wine and cup into the rear sanctuary; the temple keeper there receives the wine and places it on the altar. The two ritual guides and the two inner attendants carrying candles go first, and the two assistant sacrificers carrying the wine and cup follow through the east and west doors. Outside, the chief sacrificer and the assistant worshippers prostrate and bow three times according to the signals of the drum and gong and the calls 'bái' and 'hơn' of the East Cantor and West Cantor. While the wine is being offered, four young men holding pennant flags stand at the end of the two rows of officials and wave the flags, and the đồng văn ensemble also plays music to add joy while the Holy Emperor enjoys the wine.

The important ritual of the ceremony is the reading of the ritual address. All officials and people stand solemnly and silently to listen to the address. The East Cantor calls: 'Chủ tế quan, đọc chúc viên tựu vị'; then the two ritual guides and the two inner attendants go first, followed by an assistant sacrificer carrying the address on the right, the reader of the address on the left, and the chief sacrificer in the middle, up to the incense table to perform the reading ritual. When they reach the incense table, the chief sacrificer, the assistant sacrificer, and the reader kneel down; when the East Cantor calls 'giai quỵ', all the assistant worshippers, assistant sacrificers, and people kneel to hear the reading. The assistant sacrificer hands the address to the chief sacrificer, who bows three times before the spirit of the Holy Emperor and hands it to the reader to read. After the address has been read, it is placed solemnly on the altar, and all officials prostrate three times and then stand up according to the calls 'bái' and 'hưng' of the East Cantor and West Cantor.

The second and third rounds of wine are offered immediately afterward, and the rituals are the same as the first. For the second round only, the chief sacrificer, assistant sacrificers, and assistant worshippers prostrate only once.

The final ritual of the ceremony is the ritual of burning the address. The chief sacrificer goes before the incense table and kneels three times to ask the god to accept the burning of the address. The address is burned immediately in front of the assistant sacrificers, assistant worshippers, inner attendants, East Cantor, and West Cantor, who go down to the courtyard to perform the ritual of thanking the saint. The whole group lines up solemnly in the courtyard, before the altar and the large incense table, and performs nine kneelings and bows according to the signals of the drum and gong: two drumbeats mean kneel and bow, one drumbeat means stand up. Finally, there are three bows.

Along with the solemn and dignified ritual ceremonies, at the hamlet cultural house and stadium, rich and lively folk games took place, attracting a large number of people from Văn Thượng Hamlet as well as people from neighboring communes. The games took place from the 7th to the 8th day of the first lunar month. The folk games at the festival include: tug-of-war, rice-cooking contest, cockfighting, etc. In addition, today's festival also includes competitions such as air volleyball and football. Among them, tug-of-war, sack race, and rice-cooking contest are the outstanding games, attracting a large number of participants.

The prizes for the games are not of great value and are mainly intended to encourage morale. Through the games, the greatest thing each person gains is closeness, joy, and smiles, helping people come closer together regardless of class, rich or poor, noble or humble.

On the evening of the 7th day of the first lunar month, at the hamlet cultural house, artistic performances and smooth, heartfelt folk melodies also took place, contributing to decorating and enriching the village festival.

Together with the hamlets and villages of Bát xã Loa Thành, the folk games at the Văn Thượng Village festival are extremely rich and diverse spiritual activities for the people here. Everywhere one sees game and competition sites of young men or the smooth quan họ melodies of the sisters and brothers during the festival days. One feels immersed in the life of simple working people, with no distance at all, only exchange and closeness. On the green competition lawns or the stage of the cultural house, there is always laughter and cheering. The Văn Thượng Village Festival and the Bát xã Loa Thành Festival have truly brought people closer together through solemn, dignified ritual ceremonies and simple folk games.