According to the annual custom, on the 14th day of the first lunar month, people from all over the country eagerly flock to Hoa Lieu village (Thuan Thien commune, Kien Thuy district, Hai Phong) to see Festival “officials swear not to corruption” only one.
According to Mr. Pham Dang Khoa, former deputy head of the Management Board of the Monuments Area Hoa Lieu Temple Temple, Ming swearing festival has a history of nearly 500 years. In the past, the swearing-in festival took place to attract a lot of members, all of whom were full-time translators, government officials, and government officials to attend. Together they raised their arms and swore an oath to show their integrity, determined not to take public property for private use.
| After everyone chanted the phrase “Just like the oath”, the celebrant pulled out a knife from the sacred place and went to the altar to cut the blood of the chicken and drip the blood into the wine jar on the altar. |
In the mid-16th century, the wife of Thai Thuong Hoang Mac Dang Dung, Empress Dowager Vu Thi Ngoc Toan, stood up and mobilized the royal princes, court mandarins and villagers to contribute to the construction of the village temple. Hoa Lieu, Thuan Thien commune. She spent her own money to buy more than 25 acres of fields to donate to the temple as merit.
The villagers call that number of fields Thanh Dien, part of the area is for the temple to transplant, and the other part is to be used for festivals. The remaining amount is divided among the people to cultivate without tax and for tendering for rice to set up a charity fund so that when hungry, they can provide support to the poor, widows, and widows.
After dividing the land for the people to cultivate, enjoy the benefits and contribute to the construction of the local economy, in order to avoid the arising of personal interests and personal pocket money, the Empress Dowager and the villagers founded Hich Van. The Minh Theater Assembly with the contents stipulating for representatives of each class what to do and not to do.
For those who have dignitaries in the village, they must be determined to preserve public property, if they take public property as private property, “may the gods die” (being beaten to death by the gods). People must be honest, no one takes from anyone regardless of rice, crops, orchards, and fruits. If they steal from each other, they will all be beaten to death by the gods.
Those who work as civil servants, farmers, and intellectuals must behave in a rational manner, do not use authority to oppress others, and do not cover up thieves. Those who fail to do this will be punished by the gods.
It was also from here that the Minh Vow festival was born, preserved by the people of Hoa Lieu village for many centuries. Due to historical events, it wasn’t until 1993 that the Minh Vow festival was restored.
During the ceremony, the village tutelary’s hat will be placed on the highest position of the pre-built oath platform. Officials and people attending the ceremony arranged in order at the place of the swearing-in ceremony. After the procedure to read the will, the person assigned to wear formal clothes will enter the temple to process the elders and dignitaries one by one to the stage to swear, then pick up a gourd knife and a yellow-legged, yellow-feathered rooster. swear on stage.
After the celebrant and the deacon are seated, the celebrant makes four prostrations. At this time, the gourd knife was moved down from the platform. The celebrant holds the knife firmly into the ground, the place where the knife is inserted is called the sacred spot. The priest draws a knife to draw a circle about 2m in diameter around the sacred spot called the sacred ring, and then inserts the knife back into the sacred spot.
The private representative loudly read Hich Van oath: “… Everyone in the village from dignitaries to the people, above is the elderly, under 18 years of age or older, anyone who uses public property for public work asks the gods for support, who take public property for private use, pray to the gods to kill me… make me unfaithful, make my children unfilial, ask the gods to destroy them.”
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| The Ming swearing festival is recognized as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage. |
After everyone chanted the words “Just like the oath”, the celebrant pulled out a knife from the sacred place and went to the altar to cut the blood of the chicken and drop the blood into the wine jar on the altar. The wine is passed on to the celebrant and the deacons to drink as if in recognition of the oath taken earlier. After that, the bottle of wine continued to be delivered to the village elders, dignitaries and people passed a sip from hand to hand to affirm the solidarity to fulfill the oath. After that, representatives of local authorities, departments, and clans around the area entered the temple to offer incense.
Recently, the Minh swearing festival was recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage.
Minh festival swears with many thoughts of educating moral and personality. Hoi Minh vows to build a good life in the village, for the sake of public work against turning public property into private property. In local schools, the teachers also teach the ideas and content of the Vow for the students. The clans in the village also take the content of the Vow to educate their children and grandchildren.
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