Raft racing on Ky Cung River – a cultural highlight

Since ancient times, the Lang Son ethnic people living in the river area have had a belief in worshiping the Snake God associated with many mysterious folk stories. According to folk legends, the Snake God is the river god, and Ky Cung temple is the main temple, the other worship sites are secondary. Therefore, every year on the occasion of the festival, the Snake God in Ong communal house, Ba communal house, Hong Phong commune, Binh Gia district; Na Slinh temple in Quoc Viet commune, Trang Dinh district; Vang Khac communal house (Khac Uyen temple) Van Mong commune, Loc Binh district… often visit the Snake God in Ky Cung Temple, on this occasion, people in the riverside organize festivals with games and performances, including raft racing.

Raft racing is a game in the Phai Lua festival (“Phai” means “rowing”, “Lua” means “raft”; “Phai Lua” means raft rowing, raft racing) usually held on the 4th day of the fourth lunar month in Quoc Viet commune, Trang Dinh district (every 2 years) and Hong Phong commune, Binh Gia district (every 3 years).

Rafting racing on Ky Cung River in 2018

Raft racing and Phai Lua festival comes from the legend related to the Snake God worship and the River God worshiping beliefs of the inhabitants of Lang Son river area with ancient agricultural rituals associated with the ritual of praying for rain, water, and seasons, a folk religious activity containing very unique ethnic nuances, still retaining the most original features of the indigenous people. This is not only an occasion for the villagers to show their admiration, honor, respect and remembrance of the great merits of the gods who bring peace to the people, but also an opportunity to express the strong faith, pride and aspirations of the people, wish God bless everyone, everyone has good health, peace, peaceful rivers, good crops, healthy cattle, pigs, chickens, boats full of fish and shrimp.

In order to prepare for the raft race, the teams must prepare rafts, rowers and organize the establishment of a racing team to participate in the competition according to the prescribed rules: rafts with the size of 50-60 cm wide and 6-7 m long are made from 6 apricot trees from 2 years old or more (Dense, hard and supple, slightly curved upwards so that when entering the river it is not obstructed by water, easy to float and go faster when rowing) then use a planer, scrape the shell until it is smooth, then reinforce and put together by bamboo or steel wire.

The paddle is made of old oak wood with a length of 1.5 – 1.7 m, including 2 parts: handle with 1 – 1.2 m long, 7-8cm in diameter and paddle with 10-12cm wide, 50-60cm long, 1-2cm thick (thick in the middle, the sides become thinner).

The rowers are young men aged 18 years or older, healthy, talented in water, experienced in rafting. The composition of each team consists of 3 people: 1 person at the front rowing the raft, 1 person rowing at the end to adjust the raft (adjusting for the raft to go stably without swaying, turning, tilting, skewing, adjusting the speed quickly and slowly when turning the head), 1 person in the middle coordinates rowing to the rhythm, the movement which has been agreed in the team.

Before organizing the contest, the organizers and participating teams make a ceremony, report to the gods, pray to God to bless the race and the race participants to be safe; greet the spectators cheering for the race, then move to the gathering place to race. When the referee wave the flag, the competition begins, the rowers put their rowing power quickly and evenly to bring the raft forward (must kneel, row, must not sit, stand or put hands on the raft), The rowers row quickly, fighting each other for each advantage, showing their intelligence, strength and art of rowing to win for their team.

On each raft, the rowers have their own duties as assigned by the captain, the people at the head of the raft row and steer, control the raft in the right direction, the person at the end of the raft adjusts to keep the raft balanced, not turning, tilting, and keeping the rhythm to help the rowers unify the movements, accelerate or keep the paddle steady during movement; The rest of the members coordinated fast, strong and regular rafting according to the captain’s chant. During the competition, the rowers put their paddles into the water to create the maximum speed for the rafts, making the river that is calm and peaceful suddenly burst into waves… healthy and beautiful images create excitement for viewers.

Usually each race consists of 3 rounds, by the end of the 3rd round, the rowers flip the raft three times (The flipping of the raft is to recall the twisting way of the Snake God in the past when he was going to destroy the jiao-dragon and also to invite the Snake God to have fun with the villagers). When they have flipped three times, the rowers rush to the finish line. The raft that reaches the finish line first wins. At the end of the competition, the racing teams continued to make ceremony to thank the god and enjoy the fortune, have fun and unite together.

In order to contribute to propaganda, promotion and introduction of customs and habits in daily life, traditional cultural and sports beauty associated with the activities of Culture, Sports and Tourism Week during Ky Cung  – Ta Phu Festival, and to introduce to the people and tourists about the ancient raft racing festival of the agricultural inhabitants of the riverside along the Ky Cung river, This year, the Provincial People’s Committee assigned the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism to preside over and coordinate with other departments, sectors, People’s Committees of districts and city to organize raft racing festival on Ky Cung river, at the river section with the Ky Cung Stone Wharf, which is the place to send and receive Chinese and Vietnamese delegations in the history of relations between the two countries from the 10th to the 19th century. Around 1778, Governor Ngo Thi Sy called this place Ky Cung Stone Whalf and listed it as one of the 8 beautiful scenes of Lang Son town. In 1993, Ky Cung Stone Wharf was recognized as a national relic.

This year’s festival has 17 racing teams from districts and city in the province. The contest will take place on February 13, 2023 (January 23 in the year of the Rabbit). The participating teams will race at a distance of 1,500 m, starting from the starting position at the river section near Lady Thuong Ngan temple to the wide river in front of Ky Cung temple, rotate 3 times around the standard buoy, then finish at the river near Lady Thuong Ngan temple.

This will be an event to meet the needs of people and tourists to visit, enjoy and worship, creating a vibrant, joyful atmosphere to celebrate the 93rd anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of Vietnam (February 3, 1930 – February 3, 2023) and welcome the Lunar New Year 2023, contribute to propagating, promoting, introducing, images, customs, traditions, cultural beauty and related rituals of residents in the riverside Ky Cung river.