Thousands attend village goddess festival in central Vietnam
14:26 04/03/2009

      Quang Nam province in central Vietnam held Friday a ceremony to worship goddess Thu Bon, protector of fishermen, with thousands of people flocking to take part.

Besides solemn rituals, the Thu Bon Goddess Festival also included boat races on the Thu Bon River, palanquin processions, folk games, cock fighting, gong and traditional music performances.

In the past neighboring provinces like Quang Ngai, Binh Dinh, and Thua Thien-Hue used to send teams for the boat races.

But the hosts, from Thu Bon Village, could never be beaten and people believed it was because the goddess blessed them.

The boat races remain one of the most interesting features of the festival though now only teams from Quang Nam compete. Before every race, contestants worship at the Thu Bon Temple, offering incense.

The temple is in Thu Bon village in Duy Xuyen district and its presiding deity is Goddess Thu Bon, also known as Lady Bo Bo, a Cham woman believed to bless fishermen and others who earn a living on the river.

The festival is organized on the 12th day of the second lunar month every year.

Legends

Elderly villagers tell stories about the goddess’ supernatural powers.

One legend has it that a man came to the temple to seek Thu Bon’s blessings for his wife’s difficult childbirth.

The goddess entered the man’s body and rushed to his house with a candle. Arriving home, she touched the pregnant woman’s belly and the latter gave birth immediately.

Another tale says Thu Bon village had such a poor harvest in 1928 that residents decided to organize that year’s festival in a simple manner. But even while they were discussing it, a cow came and lay down in front of the temple.

But it wasn’t just a cow: A string of 3,000 coins hung from its horns. The villagers immediately understood that the goddess was giving them money to hold the festival.

They took the coins and released the cow into the forest. A villager, following the cow, saw it entering My Son, a complex of religious towers built by the Cham, where it turned into stone.

An emperor of the Nguyen Dynasty decided to honor Thu Bon for her generosity. At a ceremony held in the feudal capital Hue, the presiding mandarin, however, asked Thu Bon, who had incarnated as a human, to prove her divinity.

Offended by this, Thu Bon replied she would burn Dong Ba, Hue’s largest market. A few minutes later someone arrived at a run to announce the news a fire had broken out at the market. The shocked mandarin beseeched Thu Bon to put out the fire, and immediately it began to rain heavily.

Thu Bon’s legacy of a generous but fierce goddess carries on through the annual festival.

In 2005 the Quang Nam authorities decided the festival would be part of the Heritage Road Festival to promote tourism, particularly eco-tourism along the Thu Bon River.

Source: Nguoi Lao Dong – Compiled by Thu Thuy

Source : thanhniennews.com