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On lunar January 13, La Phu village,
20 kilometres from Hanoi, is home to a
unique festival: the pig procession. It is
said that a general, born on the seventh
of lunar January, trained his troops in the
village. Whenever the enemy troubled the
area, the villagers prepared steamed sticky
rice and pigs to give a feast for the general
and his troops, both before the fight and
after victory. The thirteenth of lunar Janu-
ary marks the anniversary of the general’s
death and a dedicated temple has been
built to worship him.
During the festival, the villagers ar-
range a number of processions and cul-
tural and sports activities. The most signifi-
cant is the pig procession. La Phu now has
15 communes and using ribbons, coloured
paper and flowers, they colourfully deco-
rate 17 pigs, each weighing around 120
to 200 kilos. Local villagers also dress up
and make their way from centre of the vil-
lage to the temple. Along with them are
lion and dragon dance groups, musicians,
other dancers and followers from the vil-
lage and neighbouring areas who come
to pray. In every alley, on every house,
people hang lights and flags. All this makes
a vibrant, festival ambiance which the vil-
lagers hope will signal a prosperous, lucky
new year.
The Chinese zodiac uses Chinese astrol-
ogy constellations through which ancient
Chinese predicted fortunes. All stars are
characterised as lucky or unlucky. Each per-
son’s good and bad luck is decided by a holy
star’s position among 60 others.
During the first lunar month, Phuc
Khanh Pagoda at 382 Tay Son street, Dong
Da district, Hanoi, holds rituals in which
people give offerings to worship the unlucky
stars in order to neutralize them. Each ritual
attracts thousands of people, few of whom
can find a place inside the pagoda and must
stand outside where they join hands and
pray sincerely. Despite not being a part of
Buddhism, the worshiping of zodiac stars
has been a religious custom in Vietnamese
for hundreds of years. Participation in the rit-
ual gives people hope for a lucky year ahead.
Phuc Khanh Pagoda
:
WORSHIPPING THE STARS
La Phu village
:
PIG PROCESSION FESTIVAL
Huge crowds turn out to knee on the street in front of the pagodas
One of the heavily decorated pigs in the procession