Thousands of visitors flock to Nam Dinh province’s Tran Temple for the famous seal opening ceremony which opened on the 14th night of the first lunar month (March 4).
The Tran Temple’s seal opening ceremony stems from an ancient custom under the Tran dynasty at Tien Mieu Temple, Thien Truong Palace (Nam Dinh now), praying for a peaceful and prosperous nation and motivating people to resume work after the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday with enthusiasm.
The event offered an opportunity for people of all strata to pay tribute to their ancestors and remember the great contributions of the Tran dynasty to defeat three Mongol invasions in the 13th century.
After the incense offering and the seal’s procession from Co Trach Temple to Thien Truong Temple honouring 14 Tran kings, the Tran Temple’s seal opening ceremony opened at 11:15pm of the 14th day of the first lunar month, distributing papers stamped with the holy royal seals.
It is said that pilgrims who travel to get a stamp from Tran Temple will enjoy good luck, happiness, and prosperity in the new year.
The organising board offers sealed papers to travelers until March 10 at four points around the temple to ease overcrowding.
The event also features a range of traditional cultural activities and folk games such as lion and dragon dance, cheo and chau van singing, human chess, wrestling, among others.
The same day, the Tran Thuong Temple Festival in the northern province of Ha Nam was launched to pray for good crops and good weather.
The festival enacts the traditional custom of distributing food to local residents as initiated by legendary general Tran Hung Dao after defeating the third Mongol invasion in 1288.
At this year’s event, the organising board offered 150,000 bags of food as a lucky charm for the new year to pilgrims at 30 stalls around the temple. Each bag consists of five kinds of grains: red bean, green bean, soybean, red corn, and yellow sticky rice, as well as a paper printed with the seal of the Tran kings.