Tam Ky Temple (also known as Cua Song Temple, Bac Temple) is located in Tam Bac Park, Cat Dai Ward, Le Chan District, Hai Phong City. This is one of the famous spiritual tourist destinations of Hai Phong people during important holidays, especially Lunar New Year.
On the occasion of the New Year, many people in Hai Phong are busy shopping, preparing incense and praying for peace and luck. Everyone offers incense and offerings and sincerely wishes for a new year of good health, peace and prosperity for their families.
Tam Ky Temple is a place to worship a great mandarin in the Mother Goddess religion - Quan Lon De Tam. It is also a place to worship Chua Son Trang, Duc Thanh Tran, Tam Toa Thanh Mau, Ngu Vi Ton Ong, Quan Hoang Bo, Quan Hoang Bay, Quan Hoang Muoi, and Buddha Quan Am.
Ms. Thu Huong (Hong Bang, Hai Phong) shared that every year she and her family come here to pray for peace.
"Tam Ky Temple is very sacred and famous. This year, my grandchildren are going to university, so they also want to come here to pray for luck in their exams," she said.
As for Mr. Xuan Dung (Le Chan, Hai Phong), worshiping at the beginning of the year is a way to show gratitude and sincere thanks to the gods for blessing his family with peace.
"Every time I come here, I feel very peaceful and comfortable. I also want to teach my children the tradition of "remembering the source of water when drinking" and remembering the merits of national heroes," he shared.
Tam Ky Temple is a spiritual and cultural space with a history of more than 200 years. The temple still preserves 3 ancient steles, notably "Tam Ky Linh Tu Bi Ky", worship statues and worship objects, artifacts such as altars, incense tables, horizontal lacquered boards, parallel sentences... or precious statues.
The temple area includes 3 buildings: the rear palace, the middle palace and the front palace. The rear palace, the middle altar worships Quan Lon De Tam, the left altar worships Lord Son Trang, the right altar worships Duc Thanh Tran. The middle altar worships Tam Toa Thanh Mau. The front palace, the upper altar worships Ngu Vi Ton Ong, the lower altar in the middle worships Hoang Bo officials, the two sides worship Quan Hoang Bay and Quan Hoang Muoi. In addition, the small room on the right side of the front palace worships Buddha Quan Am.
On major holidays of the year or when there are important events such as exams, building houses, buying land,... this place is a very sacred spiritual destination, famous not only for Hai Phong people but also for tourists from other places.
Every year, major festivals are held at this ancient temple. On January 11 is the Shangyuan Festival; on April 14 is the Entering Summer Festival; on July 11 is the Tan Ha Festival; and on December 11 is the Year-End Festival (thanksgiving for the whole year).
The festivals according to the customs of the Gods are: on March 3, the Mother Goddess's feast; on May 25, the Tuan Tranh Mandarin's feast; on June 24, the Bo Phu Mandarin's feast; on August 20, the Tran Saint's feast; on October 10, the Muoi Prince's feast. There are no ceremonies or folk games on these occasions.
Tam Ky Temple was originally a small temple worshiping the Water God, built long ago on a high mound at the confluence of Tam Bac River (originally called Tram Bac) and Liem Khe Creek in An Duong village, An Duong commune, An Duong district, Kinh Mon prefecture, Hai Duong region (1813); now Cat Dai ward, Le Chan district (since 1981). Until the 2nd year of Thanh Thai (1890), the stele still recorded it as a temple.
In 1920, a temple was built to worship the Four Holy Mothers (Tu Phu) and was inscribed on the stele as "Tam Ky linh ung bi ky".
In 2020, the City People's Committee issued Decision No. 155-QD/UBND recognizing Tam Ky Temple as a City-level Historical Relic.
