Hoa Lư Festival is the largest festival in Ninh Bình province, officially recognized as a national traditional festival in 2015. It takes place annually from the 8th to the 10th day of the 3rd lunar month in Truong Yen commune, Hoa Lu district, the ancient capital of the Đại Cồ Việt kingdom. The festival is held to honor the great contributions of King Đinh Tiên Hoàng and Lê Đại Hành.
Over 1,000 years ago, after defeating the 12 warlords, Đinh Bộ Lĩnh ascended the throne as Đinh Tiên Hoàng and chose Hoa Lư as the capital of Đại Cồ Việt, marking the beginning of the first centralized feudal state in Vietnam. Later, the Lê dynasty succeeded the Đinh dynasty and achieved significant victories in the wars against the Song and in the conquest of Champa, securing the country’s borders.
The festival includes two solemn ceremonies: the water procession and the memorial ritual.
The water procession begins at the Đinh Tiên Hoàng Temple, with the Five Elements Flag and the Water Flag (black) leading the way. Following are the dragon dance troupe, symbolizing the prayer for water and representing the golden dragon that once helped Đinh Tiên Hoàng in his youth. Next is the “Bát âm” music group, followed by the “long đình” palanquin carried by four young men, on which a sacred water vessel is placed. The procession moves towards the Hoàng Long River. The main dragon boat rows to the center of the river for the ritual, then gold paper and offerings are cast into the river to thank the river god Hà Bá. The chief officiant then drops a red fabric circle into the river, and water is scooped from within the circle and poured into the vessel through a layer of red cloth. The water filtered through the red cloth becomes purer. Once the vessel is full, the boats return to the shore, but the boat carrying the sacred water vessel turns left before returning to the shore and continuing the procession.
The memorial ritual takes place at night simultaneously at the temples of Kings Đinh and Lê. The prayer is divided into nine sections (cửu khúc). After each section, two performers from the “nhà trò” group (one male playing the đàn, one female singing) will interpret the content in the form of “ca trù” music. After the ritual ends, pilgrims visit the temples to offer incense and worship the historical relics.
Participants in the festival can engage in various interesting activities such as the memorial service, flower lantern ceremony, folk games like human chess, boat races, tug of war, cockfighting, swinging, sports competitions like traditional wrestling, volleyball; cultural activities such as calligraphy contests, chầu văn singing, poetry reading, poetry competitions, word-drawing games, stick dancing, dragon and lion dancing… One of the most unique activities at Trường Yên Festival is the “Cờ lau tập trận” game, which reenacts the childhood story of Đinh Bộ Lĩnh herding cattle in Trường Yên.
Spring is also the perfect time for visitors to explore historical sites like the Đinh King Temple, Lê King Temple, and the Đinh King’s Tomb atop Mã Yên Mountain, paying homage to their ancestors and the land of “genius and talent.”
