The unique feature of the Tong Nam Phu Festival lies not only in its historical length with a tradition of more than 900 years, but also in its widespread spread throughout the space and consciousness of the community. Six sacred pagodas spread across Thanh Tri and Thuong Tin districts have created a strong spiritual connection system, a symbol of harmony, solidarity and close community ties for generations.

Thanh Tri district currently has 154 historical and cultural relics, of which 88 are ranked (65 are ranked at the national level, 23 are ranked at the city level). The district has 45 traditional festivals, the most typical of which is the Tong Nam Phu Festival - a sacred ceremony to pay tribute to the two Bodhisattvas Ly Tu Thuc and Ly Tu Huy, two princesses of the Ly dynasty who gave up the glory of the palace to practice Buddhism, spread Buddhism and bring a peaceful life to the people.

Comrade Vu Thu Ha, Vice Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee, presented the Decision to recognize the Nam Phu Tong Festival as a national intangible cultural heritage to the leaders of Thanh Tri and Thuong Tin districts.

According to legend, during the reign of Ly Thanh Tong, his twin daughters, Princess Ly Tu Thuc and Princess Ly Tu Huy, reached marriageable age but refused to get married and left the palace to practice Buddhism at Tu Khoat Pagoda (Hung Phuc Pagoda, Ngu Hiep Commune).

The king, because he loved his children so much, ordered the temple to be burned down so that the two girls could return. But their will was not shaken, and they returned to Dong My commune to establish Hung Long pagoda to practice. The king, not knowing what to do, gave his two daughters some gold and silver to make a living.

Understanding the suffering of the people of Tong Nam Phu who were living in poverty, the two Princesses practiced Bodhisattva conduct, giving the people more than 3,000 acres of rice fields, instructing them in wet rice cultivation, growing mulberry trees to raise silkworms, and teaching traditional crafts, such as: making cakes in Tranh Khuc, making vermicelli and tofu in Dong Phu, weaving in Tu Khoat, making combs in Tuong Truc...

Nam Phu General Festival

In the year At Hoi (1095), the 4th year of the Hoi Phong era, the two ladies saw that their practice had reached the right fruit, so they ordered a hermitage to be built underground on the border between Dong Phu village (Dong My commune, Thanh Tri district) and Ninh Xa village (Ninh So commune, Thuong Tin district) to prepare for nirvana.

The two ladies bathed and cleaned themselves, then together with two attendants brought incense, candles, betel and areca nuts to the hermitage to pass away. When the people of the 10 villages could no longer hear the sound of wooden fish and the smoke of incense rising, the two ladies had passed away to the Buddha's realm.

The nearby Ninh Xa village knew about it the earliest, so it was honored as the owner of the mausoleum and was the main host in the procession during the festival. This place was built into a mausoleum by the local people, called the Lien Hoa mausoleum, which is very sacred.

To express gratitude for the great merits of the Two Bodhisattvas, local people carved statues to worship at Hung Long Pagoda, Hung Phuc Pagoda, Pho Quang Pagoda, Thanh Lien Pagoda, Linh Quang Pagoda. During the Le So Dynasty, the two princesses were conferred the title of Great Bodhisattva Saints.

Every March of the lunar calendar, the entire Tong Nam Phu region is bustling with the sacred and solemn atmosphere of the traditional festival - one of the unique and special spiritual cultural features of Thanh Tri - Thuong Tin. Held on the 14th, 15th, and 16th of the third lunar month every year, the festival is an occasion for people to respectfully remember and pay tribute to the Two Great Bodhisattvas - two Zen masters who incarnated for the people, leaving a deep mark on the spiritual life of the Vietnamese people for more than nine centuries.

The unique feature of the Tong Nam Phu Festival lies not only in its historical length with a tradition of more than 900 years, but also in its widespread spread throughout the space and consciousness of the community. Six sacred pagodas, including: Hung Phuc Pagoda, Thanh Liem (Ngu Hiep Commune, Thanh Tri District); Hung Long (Dong My Commune, Thanh Tri District); Long Khach, Kim Cuong (Duyen Ha Commune, Thanh Tri District) and Pho Quang Pagoda (Ninh Xa Village, Ninh So Commune, Thuong Tin District), spread across Thanh Tri District and Thuong Tin District, have created a strong spiritual connection system, a symbol of harmony, solidarity and close community ties for generations.

In order to preserve and promote the unique cultural values ​​of the Tong Nam Phu Festival, in recent times, the People's Committees of Thanh Tri and Thuong Tin districts have coordinated with the Department of Culture and Sports of Hanoi City, the Department of Cultural Heritage (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) to research, survey, collect historical documents; build a dossier to submit to competent authorities to propose the inclusion of the Tong Nam Phu Traditional Festival in the list of National Intangible Cultural Heritage. On February 19, 2025, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism decided to include the Tong Nam Phu Traditional Festival in the list of National Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Recently, Thanh Tri and Thuong Tin districts solemnly held the 930th anniversary of the Nirvana of the Two Great Bodhisattvas (1095-2025) and announced the Decision to list the Tong Nam Phu Festival as a national intangible cultural heritage.

Attending the event were Vice Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee Vu Thu Ha, representatives of the Department of Cultural Heritage, leaders of Thanh Tri and Thuong Tin District People's Committees, and many people from Ngu Hiep, Dong My, Duyen Ha, Ninh So communes and visitors from all over the country...

The Tong Nam Phu Festival is listed in the National Intangible Cultural Heritage List as a testament to the cultural values ​​preserved and promoted through many generations, a symbol of community cohesion, where traditions are honored and cultural values ​​are lit up today and tomorrow.

Speaking at the ceremony, comrade Le Thi Hong Thu - Chairman of the People's Committee of Dong My commune (Thanh Tri district) said that in the coming time, the communes will continue to join hands and unite to effectively implement the National Action Program to preserve and promote the heritage value of the Tong Nam Phu Traditional Festival in particular and cultural heritages in general according to the motto: Taking people as the center and subject of activities; turning heritage into assets serving the economic development of each locality, contributing to building an advanced Vietnamese culture, imbued with national identity, truly becoming an endogenous strength, an important driving force in the new era, the era of national development.

Thanh Binh