Hundred Gian Pagoda Festival

Hundred Gian Pagoda or Tien Lu Pagoda, Mountain Pagoda, is located in Tien Phuong commune, Chuong My district, Hanoi city. Every year, on the 4th day of the first lunar month, the pagoda holds a jubilant festival. This is considered the transformation day of Bodhisattva Khai Son - Nguyen Binh An. When he was cultivating at the Hundred Gian Pagoda, he was famous as a person knowledgeable in Buddhism and performed many miracles to help people.

The Hundred Gian Pagoda Festival is a regional festival, including many villages such as Thuong, Noi, Phuong Khe (in Tien Phuong commune) and Tho Nghia, Tan Hoa commune, Quoc Oai district today.

The ceremony part of the Hundred Gian pagoda festival includes: The grand procession includes the procession of the Holy palanquin, the procession of incense and bird's nest (judgment), the procession of feasts including banh chung and banh day of the temple, the procession of the altar of documents which is the price of the altar. , procession of incense bowl and five-fruit tray. 

The Holy palanquin procession is an eight-foot palanquin carried by 18 people, each procession stand has 4 people carrying it. The bearers must wear the Ma Tien shirt, which includes the body of the shirt on the inside, and on the outside there are ribbons of many colors of blue, red, purple, and yellow, the top is as small as a chopstick, the bottom is as big as a paddle.

On the 4th day, right at the Dragon hour (7-9 am), the palanquin procession team will move to the stone in front of the Tien Duong house to place the palanquin (i.e. stacking the poles), the fan ashes are placed around and the bowls are displayed. buu. Next, the procession will move down the mountain in a zigzag pattern from the pagoda to the bell tower, then turn around to the right, then turn around and go between Gia Ngu's house, then to the semicircular lake to the village road, from here the procession will go. In fact, Quan Thanh is located in the middle of the field, leaving traces of Thanh's first steps when returning to his hometown to ask for ketchup.

When arriving at the stone at Quan Thanh, stop to hold a sacrifice. Mr. Quan Tuan was the commander of the procession along with other dignitaries and deputy chiefs, and was assigned to clear the road by the patrol. After the sacrifice, the procession will be carried back. When reaching the foot of the mountain, the procession will go straight to the pagoda, without having to follow a zigzag pattern.

On the evening of the Holy Palace, the Mai Linh group will have to perform a puppet presentation ceremony at the front door of the Holy Palace with the symbolic meaning of the presentation of the Ming army in the past.

Regarding the tray of "five fruits" offered to the Saint, there are many fruits such as: 6 bunches of bananas, 10 sugar oranges, 10 oranges, 10 tangerines, 1 peach grapefruit, 1 grapefruit, 1 sugar grapefruit, 1 grapefruit. Gac grapefruit, 1 custard apple, 1 jackfruit, 1 pineapple…  in general, the more fruits, the better.

During the procession on the 4th day, the vegetarian meal is prepared by the temple monk, including 16 banh chung and 16 banh day. After the offering, it will be divided equally among the 4 villages.

The delegation from Boi Khe, the Saint's hometown, came to attend the Hundred Gian pagoda festival, known to everyone as the Sai Quan Anh elders, consisting of 8 old men and 8 old women. At the Boi Khe pagoda festival on January 12, a delegation of the "four walls" attended and was called that again.

To welcome carefully, the village will vote for 2 people in each village, who must be elderly, reputable and respected by the people, highly virtuous, and fully qualified, when receiving. Guests must speak politely, be humble, and talk intimately after 1 year of separation. The Sai Boi Khe people took from 7 acres of fields provided by the people in the village to organize 2 meals (noon on the 4th day and morning of the 5th day) and a water meal on the evening of the 4th day. The Sai storage box was made very large. , presented on a two-tier square tray. At noon on the 5th, his people returned.

On the 5th day of the temple, people in their turn have to do it but are not given fields. Since the evening of the previous day, the family had sent people to invite everyone to the temple, and everyone who came to the temple received congratulatory gifts. The family must prepare good rice, use a new strainer to wash it, and use a new pot to store the rice and soup. After washing the rice and displaying it in a long row, the boss will go see and stick his hand into each rice basket to check the quality. At noon on the 5th day, he will eat a temple feast.

In particular, any family chosen to compete in a vegetarian meal consisting of sticky rice and bananas must prepare several months in advance to offer thanksgiving on the 6th.

The festival was very crowded, with many rich and unique games and competitions such as: Pagoda blowing, puppetry, banana competition, wrestling, firecrackers... The most unique is the human flag. That's why the Hundred Gian Pagoda festival is also called the human chess festival.

The fireworks festival also took place very enthusiastically, with fireworks, firecrackers, throwing fireworks and displays of overhead fireworks, two-bar cannons, and mouse fireworks.