According to history, The name Le Mat appeared before the time of Le Canh Hung (1740 -1786), but it was just acknowledged as a commune level administrative unit from the beginning of Nguyen dynasty, means that in the early of 20th century. After many times changing place name, boundary, in the late of 1997, Le Mat became one of three hamlets (Le Mat, Truong Lam, Kim Quan), now belongs to Viet Hung commune, Gia Lam district, on the outskirt of Ha Noi city.
Previously, it is under Phu Thuan An, Tran Kinh Bac, now Viet Hung ward, Gia Lam Distric. Le Mat ancient percents of Le Mat people lived on planting rice. This number reduced over 60 percents in 1999 (according to documents in the April 2012). The amount of population living on raising and catching snake just takes 5 percents of total village people. The other live on many different subordinate jobs such as: sewing, trade, transport. The snake catching job in Le Mat village, according to elders here, is a secret handed down from father to son. Together with the snake catching job, there is the snake - raising job and few families in the village make patent medicines for injury bitten by venomous snake. The snake catching job in Le Mat is famous all over regions because Le Mat people usually go to catch snakes everywhere but they don't hand down the vocation outside. May be, Le Mat is the place where there are number of people who work at catching snake more crowded than anyplace in all over the North delta. Several legends and funny stories of snakes have been being preserved in cultural activities of Le Mat people community.
To enjoy the "special snake" original, tourists must go through the brick path, the National Highway 1A few hundred meters to the village. At Le Mat villages there have fewer than 10 families as a special on solid media. Air warm here as you are back to their families. Cord to the number of food, guests themselves are choosing solid type they had brought her, they bring howdah, the heat, the fork, the buffaloes, coluber, solid mouse ready, they banana, forest mouse ... There are many meat dishes different solid medium are enjoying 10-12 dishes, the dishes change daily, and dishes made at the request of the guests! snake soup meat, snake away fat, Burma snake meat, snake meat fry soft, rolling fry, fry cake has fry domain, solid fry soft skin; grill subjects such as the liver solid eggs, meat leaves lot of solid, solid heart powder , solid farce, father snakes, baked prickly ribs are good solid roasting brittle has exposed cake. After subjects: snake and banana flowers salad. The baked dish: meat baked with a solid direction, liver baked with a solid, baked piece lemon leaves. The basement food: solid basement marijuana ginger, sugarcane marijuana tunnels solid, snake simmer, snake soak Chinese traditional medicine, snake's tail boil...
Legend about Le Mat snake village
According to folklore, in the reign of King Ly Thai Tong, the princess’s boat once was turned over by a huge snake when she took sightseeing at Nguyet Duc River (Duong River nowadays). The princess’s life was threatened; fortunately, a man of Le Mat village working nearby the river jumped into the water, fought the snake and saved her life. After that, King Ly Nhan Tong intended to reward him with an abundance of precious stuff together with a high position in his dynasty. To the King’s surprise, the young man refused them all—in stead, he asked the King to break the ground near Thang Long together with the people in his village and neighboring ones. Under Ly Thai Tong’s approval, gradually, the area turned into a wealthy hub. The man of great merit became Le Mat village’s tutelary god. To express their gratitude, villagers constructed a temple worshipping him and added catching snakes to their profession—apart from the usual work of farming. As a result, several cultural activities about snake are held each year at Le Mat village, including the festival.
Le Mat Snake Village Festival usually takes place from the 20th day to the 24th day of the third lunar month, with the main festive day on the 23rd. At the early morning of this day, representative ancestors of the 13 camps at the old land near Thang Long in the past bring 13 trays of offerings from the capital to Le Mat village. A water procession marks the festival’s start, in which water is taken from the pond, poured into a big porcelain jar, put on a palanquin and brought to the temple. A big fish caught from the mentioned pond and covered in red cloth is used as offering for the tutelary god. When ceremonies are over, the scene when the young man killed the huge and save the princess is represented among the vibrant sounds of drums. Snake-related competitions are held—for example, snake catching, snake breeding, and snake venom curing. Also, a cup of snake wine with three or five snakes inside may be given to festival goers.
Time: 20th-24th day of 3rd lunar month
Purpose: honor the profession of snake catching
Activities: offerings and processions; snake-related competitions
