What is the Công Đồng Bắc Lệ Temple Festival and when does it take place?
The Công Đồng Bắc Lệ Temple Festival, commonly shortened to the Bắc Lệ Temple Festival, is a folk belief festival held at Bắc Lệ Temple in Tân Thành Commune, Lạng Sơn Province (formerly part of Hữu Lũng District). The festival lasts three days, from the 18th to the 20th of the 9th lunar month each year. In the solar calendar, these three days fall on 27, 28 and 29 October in 2026.
Bắc Lệ Temple stands on a high hill under centuries-old trees. It is a place of cultural and spiritual activity for local people and a destination for visitors from many parts of the country. The festival is tied to the Vietnamese Mother Goddess worship of the Three Palaces (Tam phủ), a tradition venerating deities personified as Mothers, Ladies, Court Ladies, Maidens and Young Princes.
A folk verse passed down in the region recalls the festival rhythm through the year: the 8th month for the Father's feast, the 3rd month for the Mother's feast, the 9th month bustling with the Sơn Lâm festival. The last line refers exactly to the Bắc Lệ Temple Festival, that is the Sơn Lâm festival, dedicated to the saint Sơn Lâm Thượng Ngàn.
Who is worshipped at Bắc Lệ Temple?
The temple worships Bà Chúa Thượng Ngàn, the mountain goddess who guards and bestows the wealth of the forests and mountains upon people. Other figures honoured in the temple include Chầu Bé, a real historical person from the Bắc Lệ area, along with the maidens and young princes of the Vietnamese Mother Goddess tradition.
In the Three Palaces Mother Goddess system, Thượng Ngàn is one of the three Mothers, alongside Mẫu Thượng Thiên and Mẫu Thoải. The temple's association with Mẫu Thượng Ngàn gives the festival a mountain character, where forest and mountain are both a living space and a source of life for the community. The festival is therefore both an occasion for ritual offerings and a time for the community to express faith in the saints and in the Mother, the sacred Mother of the people.
One point to note concerns naming. In source materials, the festival is called the Công Đồng Bắc Lệ Temple Festival or the Bắc Lệ Temple Festival. The name Công Đồng emphasises the gathering of saints worshipped together in one temple. Either name refers to the same festival at the same location.
What are the main rites of the Bắc Lệ Temple Festival?
The main rites of the festival are the palanquin bathing rite, the main Mother banquet and the procession. These are the three core rituals that set the rhythm of the whole festival. The palanquin bathing rite is the washing and cleansing of the worship palanquin before the main offering ceremony. The main banquet is the principal offering to the Mother. The procession carries the saints on their journey through points in the area and then back to the temple.
The atmosphere of the ceremony blends with the sound of gongs and lively drums, along with the music and brightly coloured costumes of the sanh tiền dance. Local people believe the dance brings luck and peace. This is the festive part closely tied to the ritual part, inseparable from each other.
The palanquin bathing rite
The palanquin bathing rite opens the sequence of festival days. The worship palanquin is washed according to its own ritual. For practitioners, this gesture symbolises purification before inviting the saints to the banquet. This rite usually takes place before the main banquet.
The main Mother banquet
The main banquet is the principal offering made to the Mother. In the 2025 festival programme, the organisers specified that on 8/11/2025, the 19th of the 9th lunar month, there was a banquet honouring Chúa Bé and an evening arts programme welcoming the festival. Setting aside a separate banquet for Chúa Bé shows that in the worship system at Bắc Lệ Temple, Chúa Bé holds a position mentioned separately, alongside the main banquet for the Mother.
The procession of the saints on their journey
The procession is the most awaited part. In the 2025 festival, 9/11/2025, the 20th of the 9th lunar month, was the main festival day, with the procession of the saints from Bắc Lệ Temple to Đèo Kẻng Temple and the return procession. This is a community rite with broad participation by local people and visitors, unlike the more enclosed rituals within the temple.
How was the Bắc Lệ Temple Festival restored and reorganised?
According to information from the Tân Thành Commune electronic portal, the festival was restored in 2018 and maintained continuously until 2022. The festival in this period was highly regarded and received support from authorities, from the medium community, local people and visitors from everywhere.
From 2023 to 2024, for various objective and subjective reasons, the festival could not be held for two consecutive years. In 2025, the festival was held again under the direction of the Tân Thành Commune Party Committee, the Tân Thành Commune People's Committee and the Bắc Lệ Temple Management Board. The 2025 festival lasted three days, with 8/11/2025 (19th of the 9th lunar month) featuring the Chúa Bé banquet and an evening arts programme welcoming the festival, and 9/11/2025 (20th of the 9th lunar month) being the main festival day with the procession of the saints and the return procession.
The fact that the festival was interrupted in some years and then held again shows it is a festival with a real life, affected by organisational conditions and local circumstances, rather than a fixed, unchanging ritual. Source materials record the festival as lasting three days, but the distribution of content across the days may be adjusted from year to year.
Devotees, mediums and the community at the festival
The organisers of the Bắc Lệ Temple Festival invite local people, those working and doing business in all parts of the country, local devotees, mediums and ritual officials, the temples and shrines of the medium community, and the children of the Three and Four Palaces to attend the ceremony for the saint Sơn Lâm Thượng Ngàn and join the festival.
This invitation shows a fairly broad range of participants. Besides local people, there are practitioners of Mother Goddess worship from other places and those connected to temples and shrines. For them, the Bắc Lệ Temple Festival is an annual meeting point, not only for offerings but also for gathering with the community of the same faith.
For visitors from elsewhere, the festival is also an occasion to learn about a cultural practice. Rituals such as the palanquin bathing, the main banquet and the procession of the saints are performed in the temple space and on routes around the area, creating a scene that is both solemn and festive.
Points to distinguish when researching this festival
When looking up information about the Công Đồng Bắc Lệ Temple Festival, several points can cause confusion. First is the name: the Công Đồng Bắc Lệ Temple Festival and the Bắc Lệ Temple Festival are used interchangeably. Second is the place name: Tân Thành Commune now belongs to Lạng Sơn Province, formerly part of Hữu Lũng District. Older materials may record Hữu Lũng District, newer ones Tân Thành Commune. This is a change in administrative unit, not two different locations.
Third is timing. The window of the 18th to 20th of the 9th lunar month is the traditional window recorded by sources. As it is a lunar calendar, the corresponding solar dates change each year. For example, the 2012 festival ran from 1 to 3 November. In 2025, the festival days fell on 8 and 9 November. In 2026, the window of the 18th to 20th of the 9th lunar month falls on 27 to 29 October.
Fourth is the nature of the festival. This is a belief festival, not a purely performance festival. The rituals carry spiritual meaning for practitioners. When attending, respecting the worship space and the rituals is therefore worth noting.
Summary table of the Công Đồng Bắc Lệ Temple Festival
| Item | Information |
|---|---|
| Other name | Bắc Lệ Temple Festival |
| Location | Bắc Lệ Temple, Tân Thành Commune, Lạng Sơn Province (formerly part of Hữu Lũng District) |
| Time | 18th to 20th of the 9th lunar month each year |
| Solar dates in 2026 | 27 to 29 October |
| Main objects of worship | Bà Chúa Thượng Ngàn, Chầu Bé, the maidens and young princes |
| Belief system | Vietnamese Mother Goddess worship of the Three Palaces |
| Main rites | Palanquin bathing rite, main Mother banquet, procession |
| Procession rite | Procession of the saints from Bắc Lệ Temple to Đèo Kẻng Temple and the return procession |
| Festive part | Sanh tiền dance, gong and drum music, arts programme |
| Restoration | 2018, maintained until 2022 |
| Interruption | Not held in 2023 and 2024 |
| Held again | 2025 |
Why does the Bắc Lệ Temple Festival hold a place in spiritual life?
Over hundreds of years, Bắc Lệ Temple has become a place of cultural and spiritual activity for local people and a destination for Vietnamese people from all parts of the country, with sincere, pure faith in the saints and in the Mother. This position was formed from the combination of a long-standing place of worship with a real local figure, Chầu Bé, and with the Three Palaces Mother Goddess system that has wide influence.
Notably, the festival does not only serve the spiritual needs of local people. It also creates a space connecting local residents, those who have gone away to work and practitioners of the faith from elsewhere. In that context, the festival is both religious and spiritual, and communal and cultural.
Existing sources do not fully agree on some organisational details across the years, such as how content is distributed across the three days. This article follows information published by the Tân Thành Commune electronic portal and the Lạng Sơn Province Department of Culture and Tourism. For accurate information for a specific year, one should check the official announcement of that year's festival organisers.
