Marble Temple Festival

Marble Temple Festival Every year, the Mieu Ba festival is held for 3 days from the 16th to the 18th of the 10th lunar month at the Five Elements Mieu Ba relic site located on Hoang Hoa Tham street, Vung Tau city. On October 16, people will hold a ceremony to welcome her first at 6 am from Ba Temple on Hon Ba island, located at Back Beach, Vung Tau City. This ceremony takes place with a procession including the master of ceremony, ritual students, villagers and palanquins, the altar is decorated with betel and areca nuts, fruits, wine, tea, five offerings, five element flags, gongs and drums and a lion dance troupe... moving to Hon Ba temple and then back to Ngu Hanh temple to worship. The Ba ceremony has a special feature: the procession will walk on land without using boats. From Hon Ba, the procession will follow Thuy Van street to Phan Chu Trinh and continue to Hoang Hoa Tham street and then to Thang Tam communal house area. After welcoming her back to the temple, the ceremony of worshiping the ancestors and late sages will take place between 8:00 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. After this ceremony is the Five Elements Worshiping Ceremony that begins at exactly 12 noon. This is also the main and most important ritual of the Marble Temple Festival. At the beginning of the ceremony, people will beat three gongs and drums, 8 ritual students and 6 Taoist will perform traditional rituals. In front of the five elements altar, there will be up to 4 women kneeling to prepare for the sacrifice. The ceremony will include 1 chief priest, 1 waiter, on both sides are eastern filial piety and western filial piety. At this time, the master of the ceremony offers one week of incense, three weeks of wine, and one week of tea to pray. After the worship is finished, the ceremony leader performs the ritual. At this time, those attending the ceremony will take turns bowing and praying for their wishes, praying for peace, happiness and luck. In addition to organizing solemn and spiritual rituals, the Ngu Hanh Temple Festival also organizes cultural and entertainment activities such as boi singing. Normally, famous and familiar plays will be performed such as So Van Save the Price, Phan The Ngoc's Battle of the Stage, Ceremony to honor Marshal Duong Kim Hue... In addition, in the afternoon of the first holiday, a grand boi ceremony and opera performance will also be held at 3 p.m. The Ngu Hanh Temple Festival not only has a strong attraction for Vung Tau city residents but also attracts a large number of tourists from all over. The festival is also associated with the history, beliefs and traditional customs of Vung Tau people. The festival also carries with it beauty and long-standing historical culture.