Le Mat village Festival
L? M?t village Festival
Time: 23rd day of 3rd lunar month
Place: L? M?t village, Vi?t H?ng commune, Gia Lâm district, Hà N?i capital.
Objects of worship: The village’s tutelary god of Hoang Family.
This village and its communal house are associated with a legend. While the daughter of King Ly Thai Tong (1072-1127) was on a pleasant boat cruise with her maids on the Thien Duc River (now Duong river), a big snake, pictured in popular imagination as a devil, overturned the boat by means of strong winds and large wave. The crew could do nothing to protect the unfortunate princess. But a young man from Le Mat village dived into the water, fought against the devil and, in the end, succeeded in killing it and saving the princess.
King Ly Thai Tong was deeply impressed by the young man’s feat and gave him a reward in gold and court titles. But the hero – a member of the Hoang family – graciously rejected the reward and, instead, requested the King to allow him and a number of poor people to reclaim land in the areas lying west of Thang Long, the Royal Capital, which was then surrounded by fallow land. As the King gave his assent, the young man set about rallying poor people from many parts of the country and led them in reclaiming land and establishing 13 prosperous and famous agricultural settlements in the neighbourhood of Thang Long.
Grateful posterity worshipped the young hero as the genius of their villages and on March 23 (lunar year) of each year the inhabitants of the former 13 agricultural settlements flocked in the Le Mat village to attend the festival.
‘The main item of the festival is a procession of water and fish. A big pot, covered with a square piece of red cloth is put on a palanquin which is carried to a pond located in front of the communal house. In keeping with the rhythm of drum beats, clean water is solemnly and slowly taken from the pond with dippers and poured into the pot with the piece of red cloth acting as a filter. Thereafter, carps are caught from the pond and the biggest one is wrapped in a piece of red cloth and put on the palanquin. Then, both the pot of water and the carp are taken into the communal house for the ceremony. Thus, the water procession, the cult carp and the ceremony reflect the heartfelt gratitude of the local inhabitants for the Genius from the Hoang family who led their ancestors in reclaiming land and developing agriculture.
Recently, a new item has been added: the snake dance. This dance, which is rehearsed for many days prior to the festival, depicts the heroic feat performed by the young hero in fighting against, and killing the devil snake in order to save a beauty. The snake dance is related to martial arts. The snake symbolises wild animals and reptiles in the water which threatened the lives and livelihood of Vietnamese in ancient days. In the dance, the snake is played by a group of young villagers. The young hero wears a peasant costume of reddish colour and a turban and holds an axe. He moves softly and quickly around the snake and, when the opportunity arises, pounces upon the reptile with his axe. The music band helps make the performance even more lively.
The festival also provides a happy opportunity for the offspring of the settlers to meet one another, and also to meet people coming from Hanoi, the capital. As worthy successors of their pioneering ancestors, the inhabitants of Le Mat village are engaged not only in agricultural production but also in catching and breeding snakes. They raise every year thousands of snakes of various kinds which are supplied to various parts of the country and are also exported.
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