Procession of the statue of Ba Chua Xu from Sam Mountain down to the temple, a ceremony of the Ba Chua Xu Festival last year. (Photo: VNA) An Giang(VNA) – The Ba Chua Xu Festival, a national intangible cultural heritage, began in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang, on May 17.
The annual festival takesplace at Ba Chua Xu Temple in Nui Sam, Chau Doc city from the 22th – 24th ofthe fourth lunar month, which falls on May 17-19 this year, to honour thesacred Ba Chua Xu, a local tutelary goddess.
It recreates fivefolk ceremonies, including a procession of the statue of Ba Chua Xu from SamMountain down to the temple, and washing the statue.
The event is beingheld during the celebration of An Giang’s 2017 tourism month with variousactivities, such as dragon dances, boat racing, Khmer cow racing andtraditional art performances.
About five millionpeople make a pilgrimage to Chau Doc every year for the festival.
It is said that thetemple of Ba Chua Xu was built with leaves and bamboo in the 1820s. It wasrebuilt and is now a beautiful site in the Sam Mountain area.
Located in the ThatSon (Seven Mountains) area, which is the delta’s roof, Sam Mountain has manycultural heritage sites, including ancient Tay An pagoda, and the mausoleum ofThoai Ngoc Hau (1761 – 1829), a renowned general of the Nguyen Dynasty.-VNA
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