(VOVworld)- Located 30 km southeast of Hai Duong city beside the peaceful Luoc river, Ninh Giang is famous for its rich cultural and historical tradition. The region is also well-known for local specialties. In today’s Culture segment, we we’ll talk about some cultural features of Ninh Giang district.
Khuc Thua Du temple in Ninh Giang, Hai Duong |
Ninh Giang is blessed with a beautiful landscape and fertile soil. There are a number of historical relics, ancient pagodas and temples in Ninh Giang. The Chong pagoda has a set of unique Buddha statues. The Khuc Thua Du temple, which sits beside the Luoc river, is an architectural relic with a stone bridge, a yard and bas reliefs made from large stones. The temple is dedicated to national heroes, who laid the foundation for national independence after 1,000 years of northern occupation. Nguyen Thanh An is a visitor from Hanoi: "I have visited many places, but I’m most impressed by the beautiful landscape and tranquility of Ninh Giang. The beauty of the landscape and the people’s lifestyle here is rarely found elsewhere. I particularly like the local festivals, especially the clay-firecracker competition in Ninh Giang, which revives Vietnam’s heroic tradition against foreign invaders. It might be the oldest game in Vietnam”.
Tuan Tranh temple in Ninh Giang, Hai Duong
The Tranh temple in Tranh Xuyen village, Dong Tam commune, is a famous and holy one. Built by the Tranh river many centuries ago, the temple has been re-built to include 3 halls: the front hall, the main hall and the back hall, and each hall has 7 apartments. It was built in the architectural style of the Le and Nguyen dynasties and still contains the 200-kilo-bronze statue of Mandarin Tuan Tranh and 4 stone statues of other mandarins. Nguyen Thanh Van is an officer of Ninh Giang district’s Department of Culture and Information: “According to local belief, the Tranh temple worships a river genie because at Ninh Giang, the river current creates whirlpools and capsizes boats. Local people blamed this on the anger of the water genie, so they set up the temple and prepared offerings to worship the genie to pray for good luck. They believe that the temple is holy. Worshiping mandarin Tuan Tranh shows that the local people still follow the belief of worshiping water genie”.
Tuan Tranh Temple Festival |
The Tranh festival is held twice a year in the second and the 8th lunar month attracting a growing number of visitors in recent years.