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Tien
Cong
Festival
Time:
7th
day of
the
first
lunar
month.
Place:
Cam La
Commune,
Ha Nam
Island,
Yen Hung
District,
Quang
Ninh
Province.
Objects
of
worship:
Founding
fathers
who
built
dykes,
created
the
populated
Ha Nam
Island.
Characteristics:
The
senior
men of
the
village
(all
older
than 70
years
old) go
to the
temple
for
congratulation
ceremony;
wrestling
show.
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Their
children
or
grandchildren
carry
offering
on their
head to
the
decorative
cult
tables,
especially
there is
a
long ma
(horse-dragon)
made
from
fruits
on the
tray.
The
elder
men
follow
them, if
some of
them be
weak,
aided by
their
offspring.
After
the
liturgy
comes
the
ground-breaking
ritual:
the four
chosen
longevity
men pick
four
balls of
earth
and
build a
mock
dyke in
front of
the
incense
table of
the
founding
fathers
(Tien
Cong).
They
then
perform
acts of
wrestling
to
represent
the
“struggle
against
nature".
This is
to
continue
the
cause of
those
who
built
dykes on
the sea
to
protect
the
villages
and
hamlets
of the
island.
After
the
ground-breaking
ritual
are
games
buffalo
fighting,
cock
fighting,
human
chess,
swinging,
popular
opera
performance.
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