Early in the morning of April 17 (March 9 of the lunar calendar), at the Hoa Lu Ancient Capital Special National Relic Site, the Organizing Committee of the 2024 Hoa Lu Festival held a Water Procession Ceremony.
Attending the water procession were comrades: Doan Minh Huan, member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee; Mai Van Tuat, Standing Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; Pham Quang Ngoc, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee. Also attending were leaders of the Department of Culture and Sports ; leaders of Hoa Lu district, Truong Yen commune and a large number of local people and tourists from all over.
The water procession begins at 5am. The water procession departs from King Dinh Temple towards Hoang Long river wharf.
Arriving at the Hoang Long river wharf, the water procession boarded a boat to the pole in the middle of the river to get water to carry to the Temple. The water was brought into the inner palace to offer to the King's altar, to clean the statues and to wipe the gods.
The water procession ceremony in Hoa Lu Festival has existed for more than 1 thousand years, a particularly meaningful ritual recalling the story of the Golden Dragon appearing on the river, taking Dinh Bo Linh across the river, saving the King in his youth. After ascending the throne as Emperor, remembering the Golden Dragon's kindness, every year King Dinh set up an altar to worship the Dragon God and asked for water from the sacred river to worship at the Thai Mieu, praying for national peace, people's peace, bountiful crops, and prosperity. After King Dinh passed away, the water procession ceremony was maintained to worship at the Hoang De shrine.
The water procession in Hoa Lu Festival is a clear mark of the agricultural residents' custom of growing wet rice and is also a symbol of the sacred sentiment of "When drinking water, remember its source". For more than a thousand years, the traditional water procession ritual has been preserved and passed down by future generations.
Hong Van-Minh Quang
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