Tien La Temple

On Kim Quy mound in Tiên La commune stands a temple to a woman. She was not an empress and not a princess. The tourism portal of Hưng Yên Province names her Bát Nạn Tướng Quân Vũ Thị Thục, a famed woman general in the uprising of the Trưng Sisters. The Trưng Sisters were two sisters who led an uprising long ago, and they are honored across Vietnam as heroines.

Tiên La Temple is a national historical and cultural monument, recognized by a decision of the Ministry of Culture in 1986. It is one of the temples to women generals of the Trưng Sisters' era that local people have kept alive without a break for many centuries.

The portal gives her birth year as 17 and her death year as 43. It credits her with fighting Tô Định and says she was given the title "Đông Nhung Đại Tướng Quân". Other places call her Bát Nàn or Bát Não.

The story of her life comes from local legend, as the Thái Bình newspaper retells it. Thục Nương was once pressed into marriage by the governor Tô Định. Her father and her betrothed were killed. She escaped to the Đa Cương region, gathered troops and raised a banner reading "Bát Nạn General". When the Trưng Sisters raised their flag, she led the Đa Cương troops to join them. This is legend and local memory. No full history records the life of a woman general from the early 1st century, but the memory of the community has carried her name through every generation.

The same legend says the Eastern Han army surrounded her. The Eastern Han was the dynasty then ruling China. She and her soldiers fought for 39 days and nights and gave their lives on Kim Quy mound, the place where the temple stands now.

The temple follows a traditional plan called "Tiền nhất, Hậu đinh". The front hall is shaped like the character Nhất, and the rear hall like the character Đinh. The portal lists three main buildings: Đại Bái, the middle ritual hall and the rear sanctuary. Before the main sanctuary, visitors pass through the inner gate called Tam quan nội, then Lầu Cô and Lầu Cậu.

The grounds cover about 5,000 to 6,000 square meters. Reports say the temple was built under the Lê and rebuilt in stone under the Nguyễn dynasty, which reigned from 1802 to 1945. It is a place of worship and remembrance, where the local community keeps the memory of the woman general alive through its buildings, its rites and its festival.

The Tiên La Festival is a national intangible cultural heritage. A decision of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism put it on the national list in 2016. The festival has several dates in the year. On the 10th day of the third lunar month come the opening ceremony and the water procession from the Luộc River. The 17th day of the third lunar month is the main festival day. The 15th day of the eighth lunar month is the great ceremony for her birthday. The 10th day of the eleventh lunar month marks the day she took up arms.

On festival days the temple holds palanquin processions, water processions, offering rites and many folk games. The water procession draws special attention. It goes from Tiên La Temple down to the Luộc River, fills large jars with water and carries them back, recreating a spiritual rite tied to water in folk belief.

She chose to fight rather than yield. Nearly 2,000 years later, the community still remembers her.