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Fish-praying Festival in Thai Duong Ha
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Fish-praying Festival is a festival of the people of Thai Duong Ha village, Huong Hai commune, Thai Duong Ha village, Thuan An town, Phu Vang district, Thua Thien Hue province. The festival was held on January 12 to commemorate the village's king, Truong Quy Cong, nicknamed Truong Thieu, a native of the North, who taught the people about fishing and boat trade.
Introduction:

Fish-praying Festival is a festival of the people of Thai Duong Ha village, Huong Hai commune, Thai Duong Ha village, Thuan An town, Phu Vang district, Thua Thien Hue province. The festival was held on January 12 to commemorate the village's king, Truong Quy Cong, nicknamed Truong Thieu, a native of the North, who taught the people about fishing and boat trade.

Highlight:

In the afternoon before the opening day, the two Thuong and Ha started worshipping. Late at night, a "praying for peace and fish" ceremony was held again. An elderly man in the village was well-versed in the ritual of giving the speech. All the boat owners dressed in black Ao dai, white pants, and red turban in turn to celebrate. The female side has a representative.

This festival has a special rule that it organizes games describing marine activities every three years. 

At the communal house, people do "netting games", describing how to cast a net on the shore. At the front of the communal house about 100 meters away, there is a performance of "Queu, gia, xuc ruoc", describing the scene of using a knitted net on two cross bamboo bars in front of the bow of the boat to rake. At the ceremony, a man obeyed the order after begging for the villagers to be healthy, and prosperous, holding drumsticks covered by a red scarf at the end to beat 3 times opening the festival. 

Beating the drum to open the festival

In the courtyard, an elderly man dressed in costumes entered, accompanied by two boat owners with red scarves, dressed according to their profession at the ceremony, but they prostrated on all sides, making all kinds of funny gestures to make people laugh. A drumbeat of orders sounded, the worshippers on one side. 

On the altar, an elderly tossed money and offerings into the courtyard for the children to scramble to pick up. 

At the same time, the boat owners carried a bamboo box, knit firmly, spread red paper on a person sitting, and entered the court to run around the children. The net on the boat is crowded around the children in a circle, getting narrower and narrower, the boat is carried around in a circle with the sound of firecrackers. 

The "Bua luoi nau luoi" phase continues to be exciting. The children symbolize the fish feeding on the bait trying to get out of the net. The owners of boats have "fish", and try their best to keep "fish" from escaping the net. When the circle is shrunk, the boat owners come to catch a few "fish" brought to the table to worship Thanh Hoang. 

After the ceremony, some "fish" were brought to the beach to wash salt water, and some fish were sold. Buyers of "fish" (formerly dressed by men in double coats, red, green, earrings) come to pay and bargain loudly like the real fish sale. It's the "lam tro ruoi bo" ritual (selling fish on the road). The boat owners "sell the fish" and then pull each other into a location (a temple yard or in front of a shrine next to the communal house) to "split the fish money". They also talked loudly. "Split the fish money" finished as a ceremony. People gather at the shore to watch the race.

The performance of "netting" is a form of "soot" to commemorate the career of Thanh Hoang - the tutelary of the village. Therefore, it can be considered a ritualistic career show.

Photo: N. MINH