Le Mat is a village in Viet Hung commune, Gia Lam district, about 7 km northeast of Hanoi city center (now belonging to Viet Hung ward, Long Bien district, Hanoi city). Le Mat is famous throughout the country for its traditional job of raising snakes and snakes. Snake village is associated with the legend of conquering the sea monster with the image of a giant snake of the Hoang family in Le Mat during the reign of King Ly Thai Tong (1028 - 1054).
Le Mat village festival is held annually from March 21-23 of the lunar calendar, the main festival takes place on the 23rd at Le Mat communal house, to commemorate the tutelary genie of Hoang Duc Trung village. The traditional festival of Le Mat village has been passed down for many years with the following contents: water procession, literature procession, especially the Da Ngu ceremony, Giao Long Dance performance, and the thirteenth Camp ... , Le Mat village traditional festival is honored to receive the Certificate of National Intangible Cultural Heritage Recognition.
Legend of Le Mat snake village
The old Le Mat was named "Tru Mat", probably because of the lord of the Lord Trinh Chu (Trinh Cuong 1686 - 1729) should be changed to the present name. The elders of Le Mat village said that snake farming here has never been remembered by anyone.
Legend has it that during the reign of King Ly Thai Tong, there was a king's pet princess who used to sail on Thien Duc river (the Duong river today). One day, the princess unfortunately sank a boat and drowned and lost her body. The King awarded it to anyone who found it but no one could find it. There was a young man from the royal family of Le Mat fought bravely with the sea monster and finally brought the princess's pearl to the shore. The king rewarded him with lots of stature and gold and silver, but he refused all, only asking the king to send the poor Le Mat people to explore the western land of Thang Long citadel as a farm.
Approved by the king, the people of Le Mat crossed the Nhi Ha River (Red River today) to explore the western land of Thang Long citadel. The land gradually became prosperous, expanded into 13 hamlets which the history book called "Thap Tam camp". After establishing 13 camps, the Hoang's son returned to consolidate the old village, which was very prosperous, so he called the village "Tru Mat". After his death, the villagers married him and worshiped him as a tutelary god. Following his example, the people of Le Mat village in addition to farmers also developed snakes, snakes and snake jobs from there. In the beginning, Le Mat villagers only raised snakes to soak alcohol as medicine, then snake skin was made fine arts such as belts, leather purses, leather shoes, etc.
Currently, there are hundreds of snake households in the village, dozens of snake specialty restaurants and many cultural and artistic activities about snakes held annually. The snake is the symbol of the village, the snake job is the basic job, or even the sole of many families. Le Mat is considered as a snake transaction center of the whole North, and a famous snake village in Vietnam and around the world.
Jubilant traditional Le Mat festival
People in Hanoi used to have a song:
Remember March 23
Our villagers overcame Nhi Ha to visit their homeland
Merchandise, former shop suggested Hue
West Lake fish jump back and forth in the clouds
As a traditional source, every year on the occasion of the festival, the villagers of Le Mat organize a unique ritual called the Da Ngu Festival (fishing). This custom is originated from the legend of a young man of the Hoang family who sacrificed himself to fight Giac Long and save the Ly princess. The Feast of the Fishman is a spiritual performance through which the princess wishes to express her gratitude to the village tutelary. The wish seems to have been fulfilled that the night before fishing, it often rained, so that through the rain and wind, the fish would be moved from West Lake to Gieng Ngoc. Local people believe that the fish sent by the princess will always be marked with a red or yellowish dot on the scales of the fish's body.
The custom of fishing in the village of Le Mat has a long tradition. This is a special feature in the traditional culture of the two countryside, the former shop and shows the solidarity between the localities with the same origin. People here believe that, if the shop and the former shop unite and prosper, the sacred fish will follow the rainy clouds every year and fly from West Lake to Ngoc Well.
In festivals, throughout the village outside the village are splendidly decorated, fan flags spread all kinds, bright candles, incense smoke. On the main festival, representatives of the descendants of the 13 western villages of Thang Long citadel, 13 trays of gifts brought from the capital to Le Mat communal communal house to attend the festival (later changed the cadastral, so some more villages) ). The village rules stipulate that the celebrant must be Le Mat people; Van Phuc is the eldest brother of 13 villages, read the literature; Nam Hao is Western Chorus; Giang Vo is Eastern Chorus; The three camps of Van Phuc, Kim Ma and Thu Le are Sacrifice. However, the participation of farms is not equal, so the number and regulations of ingredients also vary from year to year. In terms of the celebrant, the village rules also state that the celebrant must be a person who is perfect - that is, the royal family, who are ethical, still living with the old lady. The celebrant must be fasting for a whole month before going to the guild.
In parallel with the ritual, the festival always attracts a large number of participants, this is a very special form of folklore.
According to the old custom, every time the village opened a festival, the performance of the Giao Long Dance became the center of the festival, covering all the time and space of the festival. Giao Long dance can be considered as a dance system consisting of many dances with its own voice and language. Giao Long dance is performed during 5 days of the festival, usually at noon when the holy rituals are completed. The Giao Long dance line was performed by young men and women in Le Mat village, including "roles" such as the Quan army's officers; The young man Hoang; Princess of the Ly Dynasty; maidservant; yacht dance team; in the guise of Giao Long; music team; dancing, dancing ...
There are many different theories about the birth of this dance in Le Mat village festival. Legend has it that when the princess of Ly Dynasty was harmed by the monster, she could not recover the body, the Le Mat village boy volunteered to salvage the princess with many difficult times. Therefore, Le Mat villagers created the Dance of Giao Long ritual based on the anecdotes and legends surrounding the village tutelary god. Thus, the ritual of the Giao Long Dance appears to have a very humane meaning, stemming from the very deep feelings of the people with the village tutelary god.
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