Lanh Giang Temple Festival

Lanh Giang Temple located in Yen Lac hamlet, Duy Tien district is the place where Tien Dung fairy and a King who made the great victory against Thuc invaders under Hung Due Vuong dynasty are worshiped. There are two annual festivals here celebrated in the sixth lunar month (from 18 to 25) and the eighth lunar month (on 20).

Local residents arrange the palanquin and hang the flag in front of the Temple on the 18th of the sixth lunar month and then hold the ceremony on the 21st. During 22 to 24, sacrifice ceremony and procession of ritual palanquin around the temple are two main activities. The 25th is the closing day when offerings and flags are taken down, and the Temple will be closed. On the 25th of the eighth lunar month, there holds a procession of palanquin in Yen Tu (Moc Bac commune, Duy Tien district) where Ngoc Hoa Princess is worshiped. Apart from such rites as sacrifice ceremony and procession, visitors are attracted by the festivity including dragon dancing, unicorn dancing, lion dancing, traditional opera singing, chau van singing, wrestling, human chess playing, traditional card playing, rice making in bamboo frames, cockfighting, duck catching in the water, walking through rope bridges, etc.

June festivities also offer crawl stroke swimming in Red River and water palanquin ceremony. The water is taken from the middle of Red River. It is used as sacred offering and used for symbolic statue washing. Through those practices, people want to express their desire for good weather and wish to conquer the nature. From worshiping practice and the location of the temple (at riverside), it can be seen that genies worshiped in Lanh Giang temple are actually water genies. Like other places, water genie worshiping practice reveals two sides of people's spiritual life, i.e. the wish for protection from nature genies and desire to conquer the power of that wild nature.

Nowadays, a lot of visitors come to visit and join the ceremony in Lanh Temple. Sometimes, the Temple was full of water, therefore, visitors and local people have to row a boat carrying their offerings and take part in the rites in order to show their honor to the three genies and Tien Dung Fairy. Apart from those two main festivals in Lanh Giang Temple, visitors still come here to pray for talent and money. There is a saying that Nowhere is as interested as in Lanh and May Temples. The saying describes the attraction of a place whose location, scenery, history and festivals satisfy the spiritual need of religious devotees.