“It is the happiest time of the year when the five villages open their festival for visitors,” goes the old saying. The Moc villages festival is held every 5 years on March 12-13 according to the lunar calendar.
Early in the morning, a procession of palanquins, troupes of dragon and lion dancers and numerous people started out from Phung Khoang communal house to make their way to the communal house at Giap Nhat. During the 3km march, the procession was welcomed and joined by the residents of the five villages. They formed a large crowd waving flags and fans and carrying bamboo elephants and wooden horses while the dancers with statutes of the earth gods of wealth and merit walked in the middle of the assembly throng.
The festival’s organising board said that the five village’s four gods (Chinh Kinh and Cu Loc villages worship the same god) were heroes fighting off the enemy to preserve the country’s independence. These gods lived in different time from the Great King Phung Hung to the Ly dynastry. However, the people in five villages believe the gods lived at the same time and they hold the joint festival every five years.
The festival was officially restored in 1992.
Source: VOV
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