Manh Tan Village Association

Manh Tan village festival is a unique cultural feature Every year in the 11th lunar month, the people of Manh Tan village in Manh Tan village, Thuy Lam commune, Dong Anh district, Hanoi organize a village festival to remember the gratitude of Mrs. Pham Thi Tien (Ly Trieu Quoc Mother), mother of King Ly Cong Uan and god Duong Giang. The festival is held in the center of the village, this is a complex of communal houses, temples and pagodas creating a religious and belief relic area to serve the needs of the people. Here, two tutelary deities with meritorious service to the people are worshiped, namely Mrs. Pham Thi Tien (also known as Ly Trieu Quoc Mau) who gave birth to King Ly Cong Uan and the god Duong Giang, who was instrumental in helping King Dinh Tien Hoang fight the enemy. To remember the merits of the meritorious gods, every year the village holds a festival to celebrate the saint's birthday and transformation day. January 10 is the transformation day of the Mother of the Ly Dynasty at Phuc Lam Pagoda. On this day, people organize a Bong Son altar and a vegetarian meal to worship. On March 15, people held a party to celebrate her birthday. Activities such as sacrifices, incense offerings, and folk games took place for three days. The main festival is on the morning of the 10th day of the 11th lunar month, three Ram villages (only villages with many people who have successfully studied) including Ram Cho (Co Mieu), Ram Tram (Huong Tram), Ram Buu (Bieu Khe), together carry a palanquin to Ram Ben (Manh Tan) to welcome the holy procession. When everyone has gathered, according to the old order, the procession is carried out in palanquin to the temple for the holy ceremony. Leading is Ram Ben's group and last is Ram Cho. That arrangement is based on the merits the king bestowed on the villages after defeating the enemy. The person carrying the palanquin must be a young man in the village, wearing a shirt, turban, shoes, and belt to show majesty. Each village has a procession team: at the forefront is the spirit flag, the five-element flag, followed by the halberd, the bronze bowl, the ceremonial music team, the palanquin to process the incense pot, the palanquin to process the tribute bowl to process the saint of their village. When going to the temple, they lower the palanquin and perform the ceremony. The funeral group includes 54 people to pay their respects. In addition, those who pass the exam in 4 villages form a literary association and those who pass in 1 village are called the Huong Sinh Association. On that day, these two associations appoint someone to write a testament and read the testament during the ceremony. Besides spiritual activities, folk games and sports activities also take place enthusiastically. Also in the flow of Vietnamese culture, Vietnamese village festivals in general and Manh Tan village festivals in particular have unique cultural features. It can be said that this is a unique form of spiritual cultural activity, in addition to demonstrating community cohesion and solidarity in work as well as in cultural activities.