Unlike other festivals, wrestling is the main sport among other activities of the festival.
Lieu Doi Village is located in Liem The Commune, Thanh Liem District, Ha Nam Province.
This village festival occurs annually on the 5th day of the 10th lunar
month. There remain a lot of legends of the origin of the festival as
well as the legends of wrestling and team of wrestlers.
The
villagers hold this wrestling festival to thank Thanh Ong (a man of the
Doan family who fought against Chinese invaders and was also the
ancestor of wrestling).
Lieu
Doi’s legend has it that, a young man of Doan (Đoàn) family has the
extraordinary power and the special ability of martial arts. He can
defeat 5 competitors in the stage. One day, in Nuong Cui (Nương Cửi), a
bright blue light ray frightened everybody but the Doan man. He came
near it and realized that the light was from a sword placing in a red
scarf. He kowtowed to the god, then held the sword, tied the red scarf
around his waist and fenced in front of villagers.
The
procession ceremony begins in the solemn atmosphere of the martial
spirit. Offerings consist of some truncated cones of sticky rice, some
bananas, and a pot of tea (substituting for wine). An old man holding a
mirror walking backwards at the beginning of the procession starts the
worshiping ceremony.
The
next phase of the festival is the open fire ceremony. A great flame is
set up, and an alderman hands over the sword and a reddish towel to the
wrestlers. This ceremony is called "giving of the sword and the reddish
clothes ceremony".
The
last activity is the Thanh Dong ceremony and after several solemn
ceremonies, the wrestling competition begins. First, two boys are
elected by the villagers to wrestle for five rounds as a presentation
(Five Round Custom). Next, the wrestlers from other localities
participate in the round. It's a war flag dance, which is also called
“superman going to the battlefield dance”. Atmosphere of the festival is
exciting with drum, bell, gong...
Apart
from the wrestling activity, the Lieu Doi Festival also has activities
such as the performance of popular satirical verses, alternating folk
songs, and the tasting of special dishes prepared by the local people
for competition at the festival.
If tourists in Vietnam travel have chance attend this festival, you'll surely excited with its activities.
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