Coming to Ha Trung commune (Ba Thuoc district, Thanh Hoa province) on the days leading up to the Lunar New Year 2025, the atmosphere here is quite bustling. People are busy with farming work, harvesting agricultural products to prepare for Tet.
According to many locals, they are trying to arrange all their work to celebrate Tet and enjoy Spring. Because in early Spring, the locality has a festival to pray for luck at the Mai Da Dieu archaeological site, where there is a sacred termite nest, several meters high, many people cannot hug it and has been protected by the villagers from generation to generation.
Talking about this special termite nest, Mr. Truong Van Vien (84 years old, in Khieng village, Ha Trung commune, Ba Thuoc district) said that he did not know when this termite nest was created, but he only knew that he had seen it since he was a child. He also often played in this area during his childhood.
“In the past, when I was a child, every time I went to play in the termite nest area, the elders in the village would warn me that the termite nest had been there for hundreds of years. There was a grave underneath the termite nest, which was very sacred, so children were not allowed to come near and cause trouble. These warnings were not only heard by me, but by many generations, even to my children and grandchildren today. Because of that, the termite nest was protected from generation to generation,” said Mr. Vien.
To help us understand more about the termite nest, Mr. Vien personally led the group to explore the field. Here, the group was quite surprised to see a tall, vertical termite nest, surrounded by holes. This termite nest is located at the foot of a rocky mountain, in the grounds of the Mai Da Dieu archaeological site, right next to the termite nest is an altar set up by the people to burn incense.
Pointing to the termite mound, he said: "The termite mound is about 2 meters high. Previously, half of the termite mound collapsed, but after a while it was pushed back up again. On the 15th and 1st of every month, people often come here to burn incense. Especially on the first days of the new year, the whole village holds a festival to pray for good luck" - Mr. Vien said.
Mr. Truong Hong Bien - Chairman of the People's Committee of Ha Trung Commune, Ba Thuoc District, Thanh Hoa Province said that on the full moon day of the first lunar month every year, local people will gather at the Mai Da Dieu archaeological site to organize the festival. On the day of the festival, people invite a shaman to perform an incense offering ceremony to the mountain god, praying for a year of favorable weather and wind.
“The termite nest next to Mai Da Dieu is very sacred, cherished and protected by the people. Over the years, this place has become a spiritual destination. However, there is no exploitation of the termite nest to weave magical and superstitious stories. Every year, the locality organizes a festival on the full moon of January. Some years the festival lasts for 3 days, but some years it only lasts for 1 day, depending on how many or how few activities and games the people organize on the sidelines,” said Mr. Bien.
In 1984, at Mai Da Dieu cave in Khieng village, archaeologists found thousands of stone artifacts, including tools belonging to the Son Vi culture. In particular, archaeologists also discovered 10 ancient tombs and remains, including a double burial and 2 relatively intact fossilized skeletons.
On January 10, 2005, the Mai Da Dieu area was ranked as a provincial-level archaeological site by the Thanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee. In addition to the cultural and historical values discovered by archaeologists, within the Mai Da Dieu archaeological site there is also a giant termite nest, protected by the local people and no one dares to encroach.