Ready for the Opening of the Au Co Mother Temple Festival

One of the most anticipated spring festivals in Ha Hoa District is the Au Co Mother Temple Festival in Hien Luong Commune, Ha Hoa District, which features many historically and culturally significant activities. Preparations are now complete, and the festival is ready to welcome both local people and visitors to come and worship during the Lunar New Year of 2025.

According to the plan of the People’s Committee of Ha Hoa District, the 2025 Au Co Mother Temple Festival includes: The incense offering ceremony to the Mother Au Co will take place on January 24, 2025, corresponding to the 25th day of the 12th lunar month, Year of the Dragon; The opening ceremony of the Au Co Mother Temple Festival and the traditional activities of wrapping and cooking Banh chung (square sticky rice cakes) and pounding Banh giay (round sticky rice cakes) will be held on February 3, 2025, corresponding to the 6th day of the 1st lunar month of the Year of the Snake; The incense offering ceremony for the divine descent (main ceremony) will take place on February 4, 2025, corresponding to the 7th day of the 1st lunar month. A notable change for this year’s festival is that there will be no cultural or sporting activities.

In these days, the organizing committee of the Au Co Mother Temple Festival is actively completing preparations to ensure the festival runs smoothly and on schedule. This includes thorough cleaning of the entire Au Co Mother Temple site, hanging banners and slogans, and decorating with vibrant flags and flowers along the roads leading to the temple site and the streets of Hien Luong Commune. At the same time, Hien Luong Commune is working diligently to repair the roads that were damaged by Storm No. 3 in the area.

Mrs. To Thi Hai Yen – Head of the Management Board of the Au Co Mother Temple Site, said: “In the final days of the year, the site has already welcomed many delegations from various regions to visit and pay respects to the Au Co Mother. We have also completed most of the work to improve the landscape and decoration, ensuring the temple area is spacious and beautiful.”

A special and important ritual during the main ceremony on the 7th of the first lunar month of the Au Co Mother Temple Festival is the selection of 21 young and beautiful maidens with good character. They were chosen from students at Ha Hoa High School and Xuan Ang High School in Ha Hoa District. The team is currently practicing the ritual in a serious and timely manner.

In recent years, Ha Hoa District has focused all its resources on restoring and preserving historical sites, effectively managing annual festival activities, improving the landscape, infrastructure, and expanding parking areas, access roads, and the area for planting memorial trees. They have also built public restrooms to serve tourists, set up booths promoting tourism products at the festival, maintained an information desk and sales of local products at the Au Co Mother Temple site, and constructed a memorial house to display and promote Ha Hoa’s specialties.

Now, everything is ready for a civilized and safe festival season, contributing to the beautification and promotion of the cultural beauty of the spring festival in the land of the Ancestors.

Ha Trang