My Long beach worship festival

My Long Sea Worship Festival, also known as Nghinh Ong festival or Nam Hai Cua Sacrifice festival, is a typical traditional folk festival of the Kinh community who make a living by making money on the land. Tra Vinh coastal area.

The Sea Worshiping Festival takes place on the 11th and 12th days of the 5th lunar month every year at the temple worshiping Ba Chua Xu, expanding throughout My Long town, Cau Ngang district, 30 km from Tra Vinh city. east. Sea worship has long become a big festival not only for My Long fishermen and people in Tra Vinh province but also attracts a large number of visitors from neighboring provinces such as Tien Giang, Ben Tre, Vinh Long, and Soc Trang. … about attending.

Because it was consecrated at Ba Chua Xu temple, the My Long Sea Worshiping Festival includes a series of rituals that are both the Nghinh Ong festival and the Via Ba festival. This is the unique feature of the My Long Sea Worshiping Festival compared to other festivals of the same format in coastal provinces from the Central to the South.

The first is the Tet Tien Sage – Hau Sage ceremony which is conducted in the early morning of the 11th day of the 5th lunar month. The first sages - the later sages are the elders who openly reclaimed and established villages, enlightening the seabed craft so that their descendants can have prosperous craft villages today, following the traditional principle of drinking water and remembering its source.

As soon as the Tien Hien - Hau Hien Sacrifice ritual is completed, the tide begins to rise, around 9:00 a.m. on the 11th day of the 5th lunar month, which is the Nghinh Ong ceremony - the main ritual of the Sea Worshiping festival. Before Nghinh Ong, a procession consisting of dignitaries and elders dressed as Quan Cong, Chau Xuong, Quan Binh, a shaman and some old fishermen boarded the fishing boat with the best productivity of the season. recently went to sea to go to sea to welcome His Excellency back as a witness. The boat kept going out to sea, until the Monsignor threw three taps of water into the sky and it was considered that the Monsignor agreed. Nowadays, marine resources are decreasing, whales have become very rare and cannot be found at sea, so people are forced to cast hexagrams to ask for glue. When the glue is favorable, it is considered that the Lord is favorable. The procession held a Thanksgiving ceremony and then turned the boat back, bringing the monk's spirit to sit on the altar next to the altar of Ba Chua Xu in the main hall of the temple.

At the screening on the 11th day of the 5th lunar month, after inviting the Venerable to return, the organizers conducted the ceremony of Saying the God of Nong. Although it is a fishing village, the vast majority work at sea, but the original wet rice civilization tradition still dominates the spiritual life of the people of My Long town. Sacrificing Than Nong - the god in charge of the harvest - is solemnly carried out, with rituals like other purely agricultural villages.

On the evening of the 11th day of the 5th lunar month, there is the ceremony of the "Ba Chua Xu" ceremony accompanied by the typical ball and dance activities of the Via Ba festival that take place until late at night.

The Rite of the Five Directions is conducted on the morning of the 12th day of the 5th lunar month. From the center of Ba Chua Xu temple, a group of people dressed up like Nghinh Ong the previous afternoon, along with a group of unicorns, an orchestra and many villagers, formed a procession through residential areas around the town. On the way, the procession will receive rice, salt, paper money, gold and silver from the people from the incense tables and put them into the ceremony table, implying to collect all the misfortunes, disasters, and epidemics so that the village can have peace and health. Be healthy and strong for the new beach season.

Finally, the Tong Quai ritual takes place at around 9 o'clock on the 12th day of the 5th lunar month. There are many offerings, including a white pig with "all life and all colors" (complete with hair, blood, intestines) along with incense, tea, wine, fruits, salted rice, votive paper... and figures of meritorious workers and fishermen. The mantle is placed on a small, brightly decorated boat. A group of people dressed as when welcoming a gentleman surrounded a small boat placed on a cart around the town, forming a very crowded procession. After that, the small boat was pulled out to sea by the ship that performed the Nghinh Ong ritual yesterday, followed by dozens of boats and hundreds of fishermen forming a bustling procession at sea. Arriving at the location where he was welcomed yesterday, the boat carrying the offerings was cut off and floated on the sea. The Tong Quai ritual shows the fishermen's gratitude to the Monsignor, to the sea for the past seafaring season and to ward off all misfortunes and disasters and pray for the upcoming sea season to have favorable weather, good weather and waves. The sea is calm and the fishing work is prosperous and favorable.

Worshiping My Long sea is a traditional cultural activity associated with the belief of whale worship that has been preserved and performed continuously by the people of My Long town for nearly a century. Year by year, this festival is conducted more solemnly and systematically, attracting more people inside and outside the province and is an opportunity for children of the homeland who are settling, doing business, and living in Foreigners seek to return to their roots and revisit their ancestral homeland.

In 2013, My Long Sea Worshiping Festival was issued Decision No. 3820/QD/BVHTTDL by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, included in the list of national intangible cultural heritage.