Tran Tay Festival, Hanoi

Every year, at the beginning of Spring, the Tran Tay Festival is held in the Voi Phuc (Prostrating Elephant) Temple, which is located in Ba Dinh district of Hanoi, to worship Genie Linh Lang, who helped the Vietnamese people fight the enemy for national salvation. The stone elephant was made in the 11th century As the legend says, Linh Lang was a son of Long Quan (Dragon King). He was reincarnated to be the fourth prince of King Ly Thanh Tong (1054-1072). When he was born, he had a nice appearance with big eyes, beautiful eyebrows, a square jaw, and a robust body. On that day the weather was fine with fresh air and fragrant breezes. When the Song enemy, led by Huang Youngzheng, invaded the country with an earth-shaking force, the King had to send an envoy to look for heroes to save the country. Linh Lang asked the court to provide a herd of elephants and a large 10m-handled flag for him to fight the enemy. When the biggest elephant saw him, it prostrated itself to salute him (later the people built a temple here and named it Voi Phuc, or Prostrating Elephant). Waving the flag, Linh Lang rode the elephant against the Song troops. The invaders were frightened out of their wits and ran away. Peace returned to the country. Suddenly Linh Lang fell ill and later died. On the day he passed away, it was dark and there was a violent storm. Linh Lang lay on the ground with his head resting on a stone and turned into a huge white snake and crawled into West Lake. The Vietnamese people celebrate the day when Genie Linh Lang became a snake on lunar February 2, with the Tran Tay Festival, the biggest in Thang Long Capital (Hanoi). On this occasion, many people from faraway provinces came to worship the Genie, because it is said that at this temple all the good that people pray for will be realized. At the festival, folk games are also held, such as cock fighting, terracotta pot breaking, duck catching, boat racing and folk song singing. Built in 1605 to worship the Genie, who rendered glorious service to the country, Voi Phuc Temple is worthy of being one of the first ten works in Hanoi to be classified as a historical and cultural relic. According to the eastern rules of wind and water, the Temple was built on the finest and most sacred area at one of the four gates of Thang Long Capital. It lay on a hill surrounded by the Nhi Ha River and there was a luxuriant green bamboo forest behind.