Ba Chua Xu Festival of Sam Mountain

30/05/2024 03/06/2024 601 2

Ba Chua Xu Festival (also known as Ba Chua Xu Festival) is held every year from the night of April 23 to April 27 of the lunar calendar at Ba Chua Xu Temple in Nui Sam ward (formerly Vinh Te commune), Chau Doc city, An Giang province.

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The festival attracts thousands of tourists to visit, pray for fortune and luck and admire the beautiful natural scenery of An Giang.

Ba Chua Xu Temple is located at the foot of Sam Mountain, this is an important (historical, architectural, spiritual) relic of the province and region, attracting over 2 million pilgrims every year. In 2001, Ba Chua Xu Festival was recognized as a National Festival by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Vietnam.

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Ba Chua Xu Temple on Sam Mountain

It is known that the ceremony part of the Via Ba ceremony includes five ceremonies: the Ba bathing ceremony, the ceremony to invite the Thoai Ngoc Hau to the Ba Temple, the Tuc listed ceremony, the adoration ceremony, and the Chief Te ceremony.

Grandma's bathing ceremony

The festival is held on the night of the 23rd and 24th day of the 4th lunar month. It's said to be bathing her, but in reality it's wiping the dust off the altar statue and changing her crown. 

The first ritual is to light two large candles in front of the Lady statue. The chief worshiped and two elders recited incense, offered wine and tea, followed by the Board of Directors, who in turn recited incense, prayed, and made offerings. A fabric curtain with lace edges embroidered with letters and colorful flowers is pulled across the altar, obscuring the area where the statue is placed. A group of 4-5 maids were selected and assigned in advance to lift the curtain and step inside to prepare to bathe the Lady. First, take off the crown and turban on the statue, then the belt, outer garment, and inner garment, respectively, revealing the entire body of the sandstone statue in a sitting position. At the foot of the Lady statue is placed a small basin of water containing fragrant perfume. Dozens of towels are dipped into the basin, wringed dry and then wiped on the statue's bones. Then a tray full of bottles of expensive perfume was offered, each bottle was sprayed a little on the statue, then returned to the owner. The person making the offering respectfully takes it home as a family heirloom. Next, the most beautiful outfit offered during the festival is put on the statue, the wide belt and other parts are tied, and finally the crown is placed on the statue.

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Statue of Lady Chua Xu 

After the bathing ceremony, the curtain was pulled aside, everyone crowded closer to admire and pray, everyone tried to get close to the altar to ask her blessings in the form of a few flower branches and a few fruits to put on top of the altar. table. The Ba bathing ceremony usually lasts about an hour, after which everyone is free to worship.

Ceremony to invite Thoai Ngoc Hau  to Ba Temple

This ceremony is held at 3:00 p.m. on April 24 of the lunar calendar. The elders in the village and the Temple Management Board dressed neatly and went to Thoai Ngoc Hau's mausoleum located opposite her temple to hold the Thi Sac ceremony to receive the tablets of Ngoc Hau Nguyen Van Thoai, the second-ranked Mrs. Truong Thi Miet, and the tablets. Council. When entering Ba Temple, the above tablets were placed in the main hall, the Board of Directors offered incense, and the ceremony ended. The custom of inviting Thoai Ngoc Marquis has been around for a long time to show gratitude to him who was instrumental in destroying this desolate land.

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Ceremony of Inviting Thoai Ngoc Hau to Ba Temple

Tuc Yet Ceremony

The ceremony was held at 0:00 on April 25 and 26. All the elders in the village and the management board of the mausoleum dressed neatly and stood in line on both sides in front of her statue. Offerings include: a white pig (shaved and clean, uncooked), a plate containing blood with a few pig hairs called "blood blood", a tray of raspberries, a tray of fruit, a tray of betel and areca nuts, a plate of salted rice. The chief worshiper performed the ceremony of offering incense, drinking wine, offering tea, offering sacrifices, and then turned some gold and silver paper.

Adoration ceremony

After worshiping Tuc Yet, there is an adoration ceremony. To prepare for this ceremony, people carry the ancestral table out and replace it with an adoration drum.

At the ceremony, the internal chanter shouted "The singer's song is complete". The chief worshiper immediately walked to the altar placed in the middle of the martial song, holding the drumsticks in both hands and raising them to his forehead to pray. On the left side of the altar there is a bowl of water and a willow branch. The chief worshiper held a poplar branch, dipped it in a bowl of water, sprinkled the water around, and read the prayers out loud:

"Nhat tai thien thanh" - Heaven is always peaceful.

"Nhi Nhi Cai Dia Linh" - The land is more lush.

"Tam Cai Nhan Truong" - One who lives forever.

"Four Demons Exterminate" - Demons are destroyed.

After reading, the chief worshiper placed the bowl of water and poplar branches back on the altar, he beat the drum three times and chanted "ca cong continues", immediately the minstrel troupe played the gongs and drums and the minstrel program began. . The following operas are often performed at Ba Temple: Tran Binh Trong, Sat That, Luu Kim Dinh, Trung Nu Vuong, etc.

Chief Priest Ceremony

At 4:00 a.m. on the 26th, worship the Chanh Te (ritual like offering "Tuc Liet"). On the afternoon of the 27th, the Thoai Ngoc Marquis was brought back to Son Lang.

The festival took place very excitingly interwoven with the ceremony, folk cultural and artistic activities were performed such as lion dance, tray dance, plate and cup dance... attracting many tourists.

Ba Chua Xu Festival of Sam Mountain is a festival with a strong national identity, but also contains many Southern local colors. This is truly a folk culture festival that meets the socio-cultural needs and spiritual life of the people.

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