Young men who dress in white cling to each other, moving in a stooped posture to form a snake-like creature as part of the ceremonial dance. (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – The Snake dance is an important part of Truong Lam Village Festival which dates back to the 15th century.
The ritual reflects a holy snake shedding its skin and is dedicated to the White Snake God, the protector of Truong Lam villagers in Long Bien district of Hanoi.
Legend has it that Prince Hoang Lang, son of Kinh Ly Thanh Tong (1023-1072) and the ninth concubine named Hao Nuong worked together to defeat the Song invaders. His father ceded the throne but he didn’t accept it. He told his father that he was the son of the Dragon King. He was assigned to help repel invaders and wanted to return to his kingdom. Then he turned into a giant white snake and left Earth.
Truong Lam villagers practiced the ritual to pay their respects to the gods and the ancestors.
The festival begins with the procession of water and then snake dance. Between seven and nine unmarried young men are selected to perform the holy dance and each person is in charge of a piece of the snake.
The young men, who dress in white, cling to each other, moving in a stooped posture to form a snake-like creature.
The dance is accompanied by the deep and dramatic sounds of the drums. One of the members of the troupe beats the drum while chanting folk songs.
The person holding the drum directs the snake to crawl and flip, guiding the snake as it is shedding its skin. Each movement represents the snake's transformation, starting from weak to healthy after shedding its skin, reflecting the story of people in the past. They were suppressed, and then rose up from the depths with a renewed vitality.
After shedding its skin three times, equivalent to the burning time for one stick of incense, the snake slithers inside the communal house and disappears. At the end of the performance, the snake's head and tail are burnt.
Young men perform a dance featuring a white snake shedding its skin at the festival. (Photo: VNA)
At Truong Lam Communal House Spring Festival 2023, the snake dance attracts the attention of a large number of local residents and visitors.
According to Pham Thi Lan Anh, head of the Heritage Management Office under the city Department of Culture and Sports, out of 269 places to worship Linh Lang - a historical figure who helped King Ly Thanh Tong to defeat the Song invaders - only Truong Lam communal house has a snake shedding skin dance. The dance shows both the legend of Linh Lang and local people's desire to drain and manage water in the area.
During the festival, visitors can take part in other activities such as the procession, rituals, dancing, shuttle cock kicking and air volleyball competition.
Also at the opening ceremony of the festival, the People's Committee of Long Bien district inaugurated the Truong Lam communal house renovation project. The main items which have been upgraded and embellished include the fence, thuy dinh (communal house on the water with decorations typical of northern Vietnamese villages), the yard, and the auxiliary area.
The Truong Lam Communal House Festival was recognised by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as a national intangible cultural heritage in 2018.
Every year, people flock to the village festival and enjoy the snake dance – a cultural heritage which has been preserved by local residents and handed down from generation to generation./.
