An Mã Temple

IThe tragic history of the Mạc loyalists, the Ma clan and the syncretic pantheon on Ba Bể Lake

Amid the dramatic karst landscape of Ba Bể Lake (known in the Tày language as Slam Pé, meaning the three interconnected lakes of Pé Lầm, Pé Lù and Pé Lèng), An Mã Temple brings together two deep layers of local memory: the creation myth of Ba Bể Lake and the historical drama of loyalty during the Lê - Mạc civil conflict of the late 16th and 17th centuries.

According to the Tày folk legend of the Origin of Ba Bể Lake, the Nam Mẫu basin was once a dry valley. During a village festival, a ragged old beggar woman came asking for food and was turned away by the villagers, except for a compassionate Widow and her son who welcomed her into their home for supper and shelter. That night the old woman revealed her true form as a Dragon Deity, warning the mother and son that a great flood was about to submerge the valley and giving them wood ash to scatter around their house along with two rice husks. When torrential waters suddenly burst forth and sank the valley into a vast lake, the ground beneath the Widow's house rose higher and higher to become an island in the middle of the water, while the two rice husks cast upon the flood transformed into two dugout canoes in which the mother and son paddled out to rescue drowning villagers. That island rising between Pé Lù and Pé Lầm lakes is An Mã Island, where local inhabitants set up their first shrine to give thanks to the deities and honor the Widow's saving compassion.

Two complementary meanings of the names An Mã and An Mạ

The name of the temple and its island carries two parallel meanings in the Tày language and in Sino-Vietnamese. In the indigenous Tày tongue, An Mạ means a peaceful and auspicious resting place (mồ yên mả đẹp), signifying an eternal, undisturbed sanctuary amid green mountains and clear waters for the spirits of the loyalist Mạc (Ma) generals who perished at Puông Cave. This reading reflects the highland ethic of gratitude and compassion toward fallen heroes.

Read in Sino-Vietnamese, the name is An Mã (安馬, meaning peaceful horse or resting steed). Viewed from above or from a boat crossing the lake, the thirty-meter-high limestone islet with its raised forepart and gently sloping ridge standing in the emerald water resembles a warhorse pausing calmly to wade in the lake, or a curved tortoise shell sheltering the ancient shrine on its back. Both readings, An Mạ and An Mã, have been preserved side by side in local gazetteers and oral tradition as two facets of a single cultural symbol.

IIFour centuries from a 17th-century Lê - Mạc shrine to a Special National Heritage Site

The history of An Mã Temple is closely bound up with the Mạc dynasty's northeastern mountain strongholds in old Thái Nguyên and Cao Bằng garrisons, as well as the modern conservation of the Ba Bể Lake landscape. Founded in the 17th century after the tragedy at Puông Cave, the temple was originally built by lakeside villagers using precious forest hardwoods atop the limestone island and roofed with traditional yin-yang and dragon-scale tiles.

• Late 16th century (1592)The Mạc dynasty retreats to the Northeast highlands
  After leaving the capital Thăng Long in 1592, the Mạc royal court withdrew into the mountains of Bắc Kạn and Cao Bằng, establishing defensive lines along the Năng River and Ba Bể Lake.
• 17th centuryThe Puông Cave tragedy and foundation of An Mã Temple
  Loyalist generals and soldiers of the Mạc dynasty died for their cause at Puông Cave during battles with Lê - Trịnh troops. Local villagers built a temple on the island in Ba Bể Lake, changed the surname Mạc to Ma and named the shrine An Mạ (An Mã).
• 18th - 19th centuriesExpansion of syncretic Buddhist, Saint and Mother Goddess worship
  The dragon-scale-tiled timber shrine on the island became the spiritual center of the lake basin, jointly enshrining the Buddha, the Jade Emperor, the Three Palaces Holy Mothers, the Highland Lady, Saint Trần Hưng Đạo and the Mạc loyalists.
• 2006 - 2007Major reconstruction with a symbolic 54 m² main hall
  The main sanctuary was rebuilt on its historic foundation measuring 9 meters long by 6 meters wide (54 square meters symbolizing the 54 ethnic groups of Vietnam), complete with a triple gate and stone steps.
• 2012Ba Bể Lake classified as a Special National Heritage Site
  On September 27, 2012, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 1419/QĐ-TTg ranking the Ba Bể Lake Scenic Complex, including An Mã Island and An Mã Temple, as a Special National Heritage Site.
• 2014Ba Bể Lồng Tồng Festival inscribed as National Intangible Heritage
  The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism inscribed the Ba Bể Lồng Tồng Festival, whose opening rite is the water procession from An Mã Temple, on the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

IIIArchitecture of the 54-square-meter sanctuary amid the island's primeval forest

Unlike large temples set in open plains or towns, the architecture of An Mã Temple is governed by complete harmony with the untouched natural setting of a limestone island in the middle of Ba Bể Lake. An Mã Island is a karst limestone peak rising roughly 30 meters above the lake surface, its slopes cloaked in primary tropical forest where centuries-old ironwood (nghiến) and banyan trees grip the rock crevices with knotted roots.

From the boat landing at the southern foot of the island, visitors pass through entrance pillars and ascend a winding flight of stone steps beneath cool forest foliage to reach the summit ridge. The temple buildings are arranged compactly along the level crown of the stone horse's back, comprising the Triple Gate, the small courtyard, the stele pavilion and the Main Sanctuary.

The symbolic 54-square-meter floor plan and interior altars

The most distinctive design feature of the 2006 to 2007 reconstruction of An Mã Temple is the exact ground plan of the Main Sanctuary. The hall was built with a length of exactly 9 meters and a width of 6 meters, yielding a floor area of 54 square meters. In traditional East Asian numerology, 9 is the supreme Yang number representing Heaven and longevity, while 6 is the auspicious Yin number representing Earth and blessing, and their product, 54 square meters, was chosen to symbolize the unity of the 54 brotherly ethnic groups of Vietnam gathering in harmony at Ba Bể Lake.

In its structural carpentry and materials, the sanctuary blends classical northern Vietnamese timber architecture with highland craftsmanship: sturdy ironwood columns and beams support gently sweeping roofs covered in deep-red dragon-scale tiles (ngói vảy rồng), crowned along the main ridge by two dragons flanking the moon and upturned phoenix-tail corner eaves. Across the front porch hang gilded Chinese horizontal boards and parallel couplets praising the fairy-like scenery of the Ba Bể island and the steadfast loyalty of the ancients.

Within the 54-square-meter interior, the altars are arranged in solemn hierarchy: at the highest center sit the altars to the Buddha and the Jade Emperor, followed by the altars to the Three Palaces Holy Mothers, the Holy Mother of the Highlands (Mẫu Thượng Ngàn) and the Highland Lady (Chúa Sơn Trang) who preside over the forests and waters of Ba Bể. Flanking them are the altars to Saint Trần Hưng Đạo and the spirit tablets of the loyalist generals and ministers of the Mạc (Ma) dynasty. Beside the sanctuary stands a stele pavilion recording the history of the island and the restoration of the temple.

IVThe lie of the land and the facing

This section presents the Hall of Myriad Paths library's own reading through the lens of traditional form-school feng shui based on the actual topography of Ba Bể Lake, rather than text copied from the temple's stele. We state this clearly so that readers can distinguish historical records from geomantic interpretation.

VThe sacred water procession in the Ba Bể Lồng Tồng Festival and the main feast on the sixth day of the second lunar month

In the spiritual life of the Tày, Nùng, Dao and H'Mông communities around Ba Bể Lake, An Mã Temple serves as the ritual fountainhead of spring festivities. The largest annual celebration linked to the island shrine is the Ba Bể Lồng Tồng Festival (the Going-to-the-Field Festival), a National Intangible Cultural Heritage event held from the 9th to the 11th day of the 1st lunar month (with main rites on the 9th and 10th days) on the lakeside field of Bó Lù village.

The sacred ceremony that opens the entire Ba Bể Lồng Tồng Festival is the Deity Procession and Offering Tray Procession from An Mã Temple. On the 9th and the morning of the 10th day of the 1st lunar month, village elders, Tào ritual masters and community representatives dressed in traditional indigo attire travel by boat to An Mã Island to offer incense, pay homage to the ancestors and invite the sacred spirits from An Mã Temple aboard the ceremonial boats. Flying colorful festival banners, the flotilla glides across the emerald waters of Ba Bể Lake to escort the sacred palanquin to the festival grounds at Bó Lù village, where dozens of elaborate offering trays (laden with five-color glutinous rice, pounded rice cakes, khẩu sli puffed rice cakes, grilled lake fish and roast pork) are presented to the God of Agriculture, the Mountain Gods and the River Gods with prayers for favorable weather and abundant harvests.

Alongside the first-month Lồng Tồng festival, An Mã Temple celebrates its own Main Temple Festival on the 6th day of the 2nd lunar month each year. This is the official memorial anniversary honoring the loyalist ministers and generals of the Mạc dynasty who gave their lives for their cause. On this day, not only Tày villagers from around the lake, but also delegations from the Mạc Clan Council of Vietnam and descendants of the Mạc and Ma families from many provinces travel by boat to An Mã Island to offer incense, remember their forebears and listen to Tính lute melodies and Then ballads echoing across the waters of Ba Bể.

VILocation And How To Get There

Nearby places in the library

VIIContribute To This Page

?Quick Questions

›Read Next