To Dong Hai
Village rituals, festivals and festivities have constituted one of the biggest topics of almost all “huong uoc” (village codes), where we could find diversified provisions on ways to annually organize village rites, traditional festivals, the deity worshiping ceremonies, the reasons for organization of rites, the time and venues for rituals, festivals, the village parties on festive occasions… All these have manifested the sense of self- rule in Vietnamese villages and communes, which has existed for a long period of time under certain social, economic and cultural circumstances.
“Huong uoc” of Vien Son village, Quan Trung commune, Dong Thanh district, Nghe An province, enumerated all the communal house, pagodas, temples and shrines, where rituals were held annually, including “hai van mieu” (two temples of literature) in Dong Cau region, where “Hoi Tu Van” (the Association of Village Scholars) organized in Spring and Autumn annually the “cau khoa” rites praying for more villagers to get high academic titles in various national examinations; “hai dan xa tac” (two open-air rostrums for worship of deities caring for national affairs) where rites were organized also annually in Spring and Autumn through solemn ceremonies; four temples to worship deities in various areas; a worshiping object storehouse, a pagoda called Thang Son Tu, a communal house for happiness praying...
Regarding the time for organizing village rituals, “huong uoc” clearly stated: Annually, the happiness and prosperity pray will be held in mid-Spring; and on the 15th of the first lunar month, village officials meet to set the date for the ritual, select “chu te” (the master of ceremonies) and his assistants. After being selected, “chu te” had to organize a worship reporting his selection to the village deity with sticky rice, chicken and alcohol as offerings.
The worshiping ceremonies were prescribed in detail: When rituals are conducted, the worship clothing, head-wears, foot-wears must be used. Those who fail to put these things on without plausible reasons would be fined 3 “tien” (the currency unit during the Nguyen dynasty).
The seats in rituals were also strictly stipulated in “huong uoc”: For rituals held in the village’s communal house, higher seats would be reserved for military and civilian mandarins and lower seats for village dignitaries. When a mandarin is absent for official mission in a distant place or for any other reasons, his seat would be left vacant. Seats displayed people’s ranks and positions and could not be changed at one’s convenience even when unoccupied.
“Huong uoc” of My Phong village, Lai Trieu commune, Tinh Gia district, Thanh Hoa province, which was compiled in 1901, named the places in the village, where rituals were held, including the village pagoda erected in Dong De area on the foot of Toa Can mountain, facing Northwest, Southeast, the deity-worshiping temple erected in Ao Ham areas, facing Northwest, then Northeast and being protected by Nam mountain.
Regarding the organization of festivals, rituals, this village code also specified “ruong chua” (the pagoda land), which was a piece of land in the village’s public land, set aside for cultivation by some designated persons, and the yields therefrom would be used in service of annual pagoda rituals, as stated the “huong uoc”: “Pagoda land covers an area of about six “sao” (a Vietnamese measuring unit equal to 360 square meters) in Bai Dau area, of which a plot of one “sao” would be assigned to the pagoda caretaker for cultivation and the yields therefrom would be partly used for three rituals in a year, with truncated-cone-shaped sticky rice cakes as offerings.”
Another kind of public land, called “ruong gio” (commemorative anniversary land), was also specified by this village code: “Ruong gio” lies in Bai Dau region, covering an area of 6 “sao”. Each year, three villagers are assigned the land for cultivation and the fruits therefrom shall be used for worshiping in the first three days of the lunar new year, with one kilogram of sticky rice, one chick, three “tien” of alcohol, 20 areca nuts and betel as offerings on each day. Those who fail to do this solemnly would be fined three “tien”.
Meanwhile, “huong uoc” of Quynh Doi village, Hoan Hau commune, Quynh Luu district of the central province of Nghe An, prescribed in detail the ceremonial procedures for “thuc trong” (stay-awake) rites on the first days of the lunar new year as follows: “Annually, at midnight of the first day of Tet, the Village Council chief starts beating the drum in three rolls, then the Council members, dressed up tidily, go to the village deity house for worshiping. On the first day of the lunar new year, villagers, after wishing their grandparents and parents a Happy New Year, pay courtesy visits to their paternal and maternal relatives, bringing with them betel-trays as token of New Year wishes to them.
So, on and on, a series of New Year rituals and festivities were described by “huong uoc” in strict accordance with traditional customs and practices.
Besides, “huong uoc” also set regulations on the preservation of worshiping and ritual holy places as well as ceremonies, which all villagers must strictly observe. Under those regulations, deity houses, temples and pagodas had to be always clean; those who let their cattle defecate therein or those who steal any thing therefrom would be severely punished.
Offerings were considered presents from the Heaven, being of special spiritual value within the village community. Hence, to ensure fairness in the division of the Heaven’s presents, “huong uoc” prescribed in detail as follows: The meat taken from the necks of pigs or cows shall be presented to military mandarins. Those who are bestowed any titles shall also be invited to the party. Dignitaries who are absent will have their shares set aside. The village chief would be given half of the party food; the master of ceremonies, a tray of food; the temple janitor, a tray of food; the household registrar, a portion of pork and/or beef; the music band, a tray of food and a portion of pork and/or beef, etc.
Apart from the common rites of the whole village, the rituals organized by each household, each family line had also to comply with the provisions of “huong uoc”. According to such provisions, those whose parents passed away would be offered three “quan” (a feudal currency unit) and a bottle of alcohol as condolences, and assisted by the village; and no one is allowed to harass them for bribe or demand any things from them.
Similarly, those who get happy incidents such as weddings would be congratulated by the village with three “quan”, and, as prescribed by some “huong uoc”, the bridegroom’s family had to offer several hundreds of bricks for village-road building…
It can be said that “huong uoc” of the Viet ethnic majority attached importance to rituals as basis for building former village order and hierarchy and defining the family affairs as well as village affairs to be participated by every villager. The maintenance of village rituals and festivities as well as family-clan rites at a certain extent should be clearly defined in the new village codes in order to spare troubles and costs of excessive rites for people while maintaining the village cohesion and cultural ties and promoting the positive elements of Vietnam’s traditional villages.-