Liem Can commune, Thanh Liem district is an ancient land of Ha Nam. The commune's terrain is quite special with low hills and mountains floating in the middle of the plain, with a winding Khuong Kieu River connecting the Chau River with the Day River. The terrain is favorable for waterway transportation and convenient for military operations, so many talented generals of dynasties chose Liem Can as a place to gather and train troops to save the country. It was from this spiritual land that Dinh Bo Linh, Le Hoan as well as the generals of the Dinh and Le dynasties used this place as a base to organize military training to fight internal and external enemies.

During the years of suppressing the rebellion of 12 warlords, Dinh Bo Linh returned to Bao Thai, Liem Can to recruit sages. In 972, King Dinh Tien Hoang visited Bao Thai again and founded a village on the top of Lang mountain, later a place to worship King Dinh Tien Hoang called Thuong temple. In the middle of Lang mountain is the place to worship Le Loc, Le Hoan's grandfather. In 971, Le Hoan was appointed General of the Ten Commandments, honored his ancestors and returned to Bao Thai to renovate the place of worship. In 980, Le Hoan became king and came here to worship his ancestors and built a citadel from the early Le dynasty's street, which local people call Trung temple. Ha Temple is located at the foot of Lang Mountain, so the temple is also called Lang Temple. The temple was established by the people at the end of the Le dynasty and the beginning of the Nguyen dynasty. The palace in the temple worships the Four Emperors, which are kings: Dinh Tien Hoang, Le Dai Hanh, Le Trung Tong, and Le Ngoa Trieu. The outer palace worships the Three Great Kings, namely the god Thien Cuong Dai Vuong, general Nguyen Minh and his wife Nhu Hoang De.

The palanquin procession at the Mausoleum temple festival in 2024.

In order to preserve and promote the unique value of the relic site, create unique products and brands for Ha Nam tourism, in 2018, the Provincial People's Committee approved the Planning with the goal of building the Lang Temple Relic Area. into an attractive national cultural and historical tourism destination, associated with traditional national and local cultural values. At the same time, protecting the natural environment in the area, serving as a legal basis for the management, formulation, appraisal, approval and implementation of conservation, renovation and beautification projects of development projects. Cultural tourism, spiritual history associated with promoting the value of relics.

Projects to preserve and embellish Lang Temple; Restore the Central and Upper temples; Preserving, embellishing and restoring Dau tomb is in phase 1 of the planning. Phase 2, with spiritual tourism products associated with the space of Lang temple, Trung temple, Thuong temple, Tam Thien Nhan temple, developing sightseeing tourism products, entertainment and agricultural eco-tourism . This phase will have projects such as exhibition houses, literature schools, martial arts schools, hotels, culinary services, meditation gardens, reed lagoons, rural market spaces, housing combined with services, garden houses... Up to now, the Lang temple and Dau tomb have been repaired and embellished; The Central and Thuong temples have been restored on the old temple foundation. The appearance of the Mausoleum Temple Relic Area has gradually formed with a completely unique nuance.

In order to preserve and promote the unique value of the relic site, create unique products and brands for Ha Nam tourism, in 2018, the Provincial People's Committee approved the Planning with the goal of building the Lang Temple Relic Area. into an attractive national cultural and historical tourism destination, associated with traditional national and local cultural values. At the same time, protecting the natural environment in the area, serving as a legal basis for the management, formulation, appraisal, approval and implementation of conservation, renovation and beautification projects of development projects. Cultural tourism, spiritual history associated with promoting the value of relics.

Associated with the above spiritual works is the traditional Lang temple festival. According to legends and genealogies, every year Lang Temple has 4 main festivals (people also call them Dai Ky Phuc days). Among them, January 10 is Le Hoan's birthday and is celebrated the most. According to village elders, in the past, on Dai Ky Phuc days, villagers slaughtered buffaloes and pigs and held very loud ceremonies. In addition to the solemn ceremony, the village also invites Cheo singing troupes, organizes folk games... very exciting and exciting.

According to folk culture researchers, in the ancient Lang temple festival, besides traditional games, there are also folk games with their own identities, both entertaining and spiritual. . The highlight is the military performance, recreating the scene of army recruitment and parade by Le Hoan before sending troops to Hoa Lu. The location is an empty lot near Lang temple. To prepare for the game, the Ceremony Committee let people use lime water to draw many rectangular boxes. Village boys are lined up in these boxes and counted. In ancient times, this was called "fighting with soldiers".

And secondly, the swimming game also attracted the attention of many festival attendees. The game takes place on the lake opposite Lang temple. In the middle of the 10th century, before sending their forces to Hoa Lu to join the Dinh Bo Linh insurgent army, Le Hoan and Nguyen Minh once had their navy conduct exercises at this lake. There are 3 boats participating in the game, representing 3 villages of Bao Thai village. Before running the race, the participants went to the front hall of Lang temple to worship and ask for permission to run the race. Each boat has a captain holding the rhythm, a pilot and 6 rowers sitting evenly divided on both sides of the boat. Boats from each village race 5 times around the lake. The village boat that finishes first wins.

After a long time of oblivion, the new Lang temple festival has been restored since 2023. The villagers choose the 6th - 8th days of the third lunar month to organize the festival; On the 6th day, the ceremony is held, the Thuong and Trung temples are opened, then the male and female mandarins are sacrificed. On the 7th, in the morning, folk games are held, and in the afternoon, a palanquin procession from Lang temple to Dau's grave carries the incense of Le Loc's spirit to attend the village festival. On the 8th, in the morning, the festival opens and welcomes families, villagers, and visitors to offer incense; In the afternoon, carry the incense of Mr. Le Loc's spirit back to Dau's grave. Finally, perform a thanksgiving ceremony and worship at the Mong Son Thi Thuc altar. In the evenings of the festival days, there are cultural programs to serve the people to enjoy the village festival.

Source: baohanam.com.vn