The era of the Hung Kings building the country and the history of the struggle to defend the country of the Vietnamese people in general and of the people of the Ancestral Land in particular has left for posterity an extremely valuable treasure of cultural heritage. Along with the tangible cultural heritages such as the relics of Temples, Shrines, Communal Houses… reflecting the folk beliefs of the Hung Kings building the country, there are also intangible cultural heritages preserved in the form of festivals, customs and practices in the villages that have vividly reflected the extremely difficult and arduous working life of farmers and reflected the diverse and rich spiritual life of the Lac – Viet residents with the wet rice farming profession from the Hung Kings’ time, creating a unique folk cultural picture imbued with the cultural identity of the Ancestral Land. One of the typical folk festivals of the wet rice farming belief is the buffalo fighting festival in Phu Ninh commune, Phu Ninh district, which was formed in the history of building and defending the country and has been passed down through time to this day.
This is a typical folk festival activity of the midland rice-growing villages that has been deeply imprinted in the traditional cultural subconscious of generations of people here, and is difficult to fade.
Phu Ninh Commune is located on the side of National Highway No. 2 with typical midland terrain with hills and mounds close together like upside-down bowls interspersed with single and double-crop rice fields.
Phu Ninh commune has 4 villages: Cao village, Phu Man village, Ngoc Tru village and Ngoc Khoi village. Previously, in the commune there was 1 temple named Lan temple and 3 communal houses worshiping 4 Gods related to the worship of Hung Kings, which are:
– Suddenly the high mountain, bright, virtuous, and righteous king;
– The world is a great city, the emperor of the mountain is noble and bright;
– The world’s great city king, the mighty and courageous ruler;
– The local official oppresses the king.
On the 2nd day of the Lunar New Year, villagers hold a ceremony at Mieu Lan, on the 4th day of the Lunar New Year, villagers hold a ceremony at Phu Man communal house, on the 5th day of the Lunar New Year, they hold a festival at Ngoc Tru communal house, on the 6th day of the Lunar New Year, they hold a festival at Ngoc Khoi communal house. From the 3rd day of the Lunar New Year, the village festival is held with very solemn rituals to worship King Hung on the bridge with many colorful flags. When the wind blows and the flags flutter, the villagers consider it a sign that King Hung has returned and begin to organize the ceremony with the ritual of slaughtering a jet-black pig. After the pig is slaughtered, the pig’s blood is rubbed all over the pig’s body and the entrails are placed on the pig’s back. On the 4th day of the Lunar New Year, Phu Man village holds a festival with the ritual of praying for fertility (praying for the generation to flourish) with offerings of sticky rice cakes and organizes folk games such as tug of war and money snatching for good luck in the new year. Before the tug of war festival, according to the custom of respecting the elderly, the villagers arranged for some elderly people to tug of war first, meaning to ask the Gods and the village guardian spirit for permission to open the festival, then it was the young people’s turn to compete in the tug of war. In addition, after the ceremony, the celebrant held a number of coins and threw them out for everyone to compete for. Whoever grabbed them would have good luck in the year.
On the 5th day of the Lunar New Year, it was Ngoc Tru village’s turn to hold a festival. The ceremony was solemnly held at the village communal house, followed by the festival with Xoan singing exchange between Kim Duc village and Ngoc Tru village. Young men and women had the opportunity to compete in Xoan singing, this was also an opportunity for them to get to know each other and express their love if they felt “like-minded”.
On the 6th day of the Lunar New Year, Ngoc Khoi village held a festival at the communal house with a sacrificial ceremony performed by the village elders. The ceremony ended with the opening of the festival with a wrestling match. Strong young men competed in the wrestling ring in the communal house yard. The winner was the strongest wrestler who defeated all opponents and received the village prize.
On January 12, the village held a party at Lan Temple in Cao village. Each ward appointed a “Mo” to prepare the offerings. The offerings were a tray of sticky rice and a chicken slaughtered right in front of the temple, but not boiled, but left raw. The intestines were grilled with young pickled onions with the roots intact. In addition to the sticky rice and chicken offering, there was also an offering of a whole slaughtered pig for the ceremony. This custom of preparing offerings originated from the legend of King Hung hunting in Phu Ninh commune of the ancient Van Lang district. In addition, in Cao village, there was also a custom of holding a market twice a year on the 2nd of January and the 10th of October of the lunar calendar at a place called Ham Rong or also known as Nanh market. The buffalo fighting festival was held on the occasion of Nanh market on the 5th of May of the lunar calendar.
Prepare the fighting buffalo:
All four villages must find and buy a male buffalo each. The buffalo must have jet-black fur without any white hair. The horns must be close together, wide and with a ridge, the front and back thighs must be wide. Once a qualified fighting buffalo has been chosen, if one wants to buy a buffalo, one must ask the yin and yang. If the saint responds, one must buy it. If the saint does not respond, one must choose another. Once the buffalo is purchased, the village must appoint someone to “make a mo” to raise the buffalo. The buffalo pen must be newly built, clean, and sealed all around to absolutely prevent the buffalo from coming into contact with other buffaloes. Only then will the buffalo be excited when fighting. The person “making the mo” must be carefully selected with the following specific standards: The husband and wife must be complete, have a son or daughter. The family must not have any funerals, and live in harmony and kindness with the villagers. When receiving a buffalo to raise, the person “making the mo” must “sound the drums and raise the flags” to bring the buffalo home to raise until the market day for them to fight and slaughter the meat to offer to the God.
Buffalo fighting organization:
The villagers chose a large area in the Ham Rong market area (Nanh market), then took bamboo and planted it firmly around it to prevent the losing buffalo from running away, endangering the spectators. Flags, umbrellas, parasols and drums and gongs were placed around the yard to cheer. On the afternoon of May 4, a ceremony was held at the communal house. On the morning of May 5, the fighting buffaloes were washed clean by the villagers and then led to the fighting ground at Nanh market with the sound of drums and gongs resounding in the sky and flags and parasols flying all over the ground. Each village had one buffalo, 4 villages had 4 buffaloes, divided into 2 pairs. To stimulate the fighting buffaloes, the buffalo breeders often gave the buffaloes half a liter of wine and poured wine on the buffaloes to make them excited and rush into the fight.
Although there are 4 fighting buffaloes, there will be 2 winners and 2 losers. On the 5th of May, only the two losers will be butchered, leaving the two winners for the 10th of October to have the “final” fight, then both will be butchered as an offering to the Gods.
When slaughtering a buffalo for the Gods, people prepare to hold the buffalo meat in baskets made of rattan, lined with 7 ngoa leaves and banana leaves, and display them in 9 layers, called the “nine-layer, seven-leaf” offering, without placing them in bowls or plates. The internal organs are left alive for the ceremony before being boiled. The meat is then placed on a square, flat mound of earth right in the middle of the market to perform the Gods’ offering, on this platform there is an altar. After the ceremony, everyone eats and drinks right at the market.
The buffalo fighting festival in Phu Ninh commune was formed from the legend of King Hung hunting: “Legend has it that when King Hung’s generals went hunting, they passed Ham Rong market. When they arrived, they saw two tigers fighting. The hunters immediately used spears to stab both tigers to death and then butchered and ate their meat on the spot. Every year, on the feast day, the village holds a buffalo fight and prepares a feast as above to commemorate the hunters of the Hung Kings’ time. They chose two buffaloes to fight each other to simulate the legend of two tigers fighting each other…”.
The names of the places related to the buffalo fighting festival have changed as follows: Lang Cao is now Tho Quang village; Phu Man village is now Phu Doan village; Ngoc Tru village is now Ngoc Thang village and Khuan village is now Ngoc Khoi village.
The buffalo fighting festival in Phu Ninh commune, Phu Ninh district originated from a legend from the time of the Hung Kings, which was mythologized and folkized to become a festival imbued with the local wet rice farming folk beliefs. It was formed from the primitive belief of sacrificial killing, then agriculturalized to become a festival of rice farmers with the image of the buffalo, a very important traction tool in the plowing and harrowing of farmers. That is also the basis for forming the concept of the role of “The buffalo is the head of the farmer’s career”. The festival is organized with two main contents: the Ceremony and the Festival. The Ceremony (taking place before the buffalo fighting festival) includes sacrificial rituals, the ceremony to inform the Gods and the Thanh Hoang right from the time of asking for permission to buy a buffalo. Before the buffalo fighting festival, the village must hold a ceremony with typical offerings of agricultural products such as sticky rice cakes and after the buffalo fighting festival ends, the losing buffalo is also slaughtered to offer to the God. Thus, the ceremony takes place twice: before the buffalo fighting festival and after the buffalo fighting festival ends.
The festival is held after the religious ceremony with traditional folk performances such as Xoan singing (so in addition to Kim Duc commune, Phu Ninh commune is also a place where Xoan singing is performed) and other folk games such as tug of war, wrestling, buffalo fighting and buying and selling products, enjoying benefits at the market (eating buffalo meat, drinking wine, a form similar to today’s fairs).
The festival is held at the time of harvesting the winter-spring crop (5/5 lunar calendar) and harvesting the summer-autumn crop (10/10 lunar calendar). This means that it is very suitable for the growth cycle of rice plants and the production process of wet rice farming. After the harvest, the work is less busy, the festival is held to celebrate the successful harvest, bumper crops, and a prosperous life after a period of hard work. Thus, the buffalo fighting festival has great spiritual significance in the cultural life of farmers in the midland countryside. It is an occasion to express gratitude to heaven and earth for giving favorable rain and wind through the sacrifice of buffaloes to the Gods and heaven and earth. At the same time, it is also an occasion to organize meals and fun performances, creating a stronger community bond. It can be said that the buffalo fighting festival in Phu Ninh commune is a festival imbued with the cultural identity of wet rice farming residents in the land of Hung Kings./.
Dang Dinh Thuan – Returning to the Festival of the Origin of the Vietnamese People (Volume 2)
