Tra Co communal house festival

Every year, from May 30 to June 3 of the lunar calendar, many traditional, large-scale festival activities take place at Tra Co communal house, typical of this type of folk festival. In particular, the unique feature of the festival is the "Mr. Elephant" contest. This main ritual is maintained annually, becoming a unique feature of the border land of Mong Cai. According to custom, before the festival, Tra Co village holds a village meeting to choose 12 people, called "rulers", to prepare for next year's festival. The "ruler" must be a person who is healthy, knows how to do business, has ethics and a healthy lifestyle, has a harmonious family and children, and is not involved in funerals. Those chosen by the village are also very honored, because according to ancient beliefs, the family that does a good job of ruling the wedding will be blessed, healthy, and prosperous... Notably, even if the task is completed well, Each person can only have the honor of being a leader once in their life. From the beginning of the year, each leader will raise a pig. After buying it home, this pig was called "Mr. Elephant", considered the mascot of the god. "Mr. Elephant" is well cared for, eats well, sleeps under mosquito nets to avoid mosquitoes, is fully examined, cared for, cherished, and respected.

On the afternoon of the 30th day of the 5th lunar month, after the ancestral sacrifice ceremony, 12 funeral leaders will use a red painted cot with a roof to protect them from rain and sun to bring the washed "Mr. Elephant" to line up in two rows in front of the communal house to worship the god. After the ceremony, the Festival Organizing Committee will use a ruler to measure from head to tail, measure the neck, and weigh each "man". The "man" with the longest body and the biggest, most beautiful and heaviest necklace will win the first prize; At the same time, they were kept for sacrificial surgery. In the ceremony tray, in addition to the pig's head, the tail hair of this "Mr. Elephant" cannot be missing.

The award ceremony for the first prize winner of "Mr. Elephant" will be held on the morning of the main festival day (June 1). During the days of the communal house festival, the funeral leaders will have to be on duty at the communal house, along with the Organizing Committee to take care of the offerings and incense burning until the festival is over. They are respected by the villagers as "the gang". The custom of Ong Voi has its own unique features, deeply expressing the wish for a prosperous and fulfilling life of Tra Co people; At the same time, it affirms the beauty of cultural beliefs and the generational nature of a ritual at the heart of the Fatherland.

Tra Co Communal House Festival, along with Tra Co Communal House relics and many unique cultural features of Mong Cai coastal residents in the core of Tra Co National Tourism Area, has become an attractive, unique, and unique destination. , makes every Vietnamese person wish to set foot here once. More honorably, on December 20, 2019, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien signed a decision to certify Tra Co Traditional Festival as a National intangible cultural heritage. This is the pride of all Mong Cai people, further affirming the value of the sovereignty milestone and cultural milestone on the border.

June comes again, in the heart of every local person, of every resident of Tra Co, the sound of communal drums is urging, urging, bringing people's footsteps back to reunite and rediscover their values. treat the roots…