Quang Ninh Ancient Communal House Festival attracts thousands of attendees – Spiritual culture of Vietnamese people

Mong Cai – Quang Ninh, the leading land of the Fatherland, is known not only as the place where the first brushstroke was placed on the map of Vietnam, but also home to the beautiful, “most lyrical” Tra Co beach in Vietnam. Known for the Tra Co communal house festival – a festival that preserves the cultural beauties of the coastal people.

Up to now, the people of Tra Co still transmit the song “Tra Co people, Do Son ancestors” to remember their origin.

When does Tra Co communal house festival take place?

Tra Co communal house festival is one of the oldest traditional festivals in Vietnam. The festival takes place every year in Tra Co village, Mong Cai town, Quang Ninh province. The festival will take place from May 30 (if the missing month is May 29) to the end of June 6 of the lunar calendar, lasting for 7 days with many rituals and sacrifices. Tra Co communal house festival attracts a large number of tourists and local residents to attend.

Tra Co communal house festival is imbued with marine cultural identity, clearly recreating and universalizing the community life, spirituality and mutual affection of the Vietnamese people.

What is special about Tra Co communal house festival?

During the 4 days of the festival, many special cultural activities will be organized including the ceremony and the festival:

The ceremony part includes the following activities: Moc Duc ceremony; the procession of the fruit tray and the magic lamp into the communal house; see Mr. Voi off to the communal house to pay homage; Festive Ceremony; Opening the festival; Ceremony to welcome the gods; Sacrifice ceremony; Bring the elephant home; Tree closing ceremony; Call the green cover book; offering offerings of people and tourists; Offering offerings at Nam Tho Pagoda and Thanh Mau Temple; procession of the old man’s salty meal; offering ceremony of Nam Tho, Dong Thinh, Trang Lo, Trang Vi areas;…

The meeting has the following activities: Marking Mr. Voi’s exam; welcome art show ; folk games (net-knitting contest, tug of war, walking on stilts, calligraphy, sack dance…).

In which, the unique feature of Tra Co communal house festival is the “Mr Elephant” contest. This main ritual is maintained annually, becoming a unique feature of the borderland of Mong Cai.

According to custom, before entering the festival, Tra Co village holds a village meeting to select 12 people, called “cai cir”, to prepare for the next year’s festival. Notably, even if they complete the task well, each person can only be honored to be the leader of the band once in their life. From the beginning of the year, each group will raise a pig. After buying it home, this pig is called “Mr Elephant”, which is considered the god’s mascot. “Mr. Elephant” is well cared for, eats well, sleeps under mosquito nets to avoid mosquitoes, is fully examined and cared for, cherished and respected.

On the afternoon of the 30th of the 5th lunar month, after the sacrifice to the ancestors, the 12 bandits will use a red painted crib with a roof to cover the rain and sun to process the “Ong Voi” who has been washed and lined up in two rows in front of the communal house yard to worship the god. The “Mr” with the longest body, the biggest, most beautiful and heaviest necklace will win the first prize; At the same time, it was kept for sacrificial surgery. In the ceremony tray, in addition to the pig’s head, it is indispensable to grab the tail feathers of this “Mr Elephant”. This is a custom that affirms a beauty of culture, religion, and tradition of a ritual at the top of the country.

This festival is imbued with the cultural identity of the sea, which is a place where clearly the community life, spirituality and the reciprocal nature of the Vietnamese people are reproduced. This is also an opportunity to remember the emperors, and at the same time to show the firm will to maintain the national identity and protect every inch of Vietnamese land. So if you have the opportunity to come to Quang Ninh, do not miss this special festival!

For those of you who want to travel to explore Quang Ninh, please refer to the extremely detailed comprehensive travel guide here: Very detailed Quang Ninh travel experience

See more detailed summary of the most complete scenic spots, historical sites, attractive Quang Ninh check-in points waiting for you to discover here: Top 80 beautiful tourist destinations in Quang Ninh

What to eat in Quang Ninh? Let’s discover Quang Ninh’s delicious food cones here: 25 Quang Ninh specialties that everyone loves

Here are the specialties as meaningful gifts for friends and relatives: Top 20 delicious dishes Quang Ninh is famous for as gifts

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