Under the feudal dynasties, the King was Thiên tử (Celestial Son), considering Heaven and Earth his parents, taking rites to rule the kingdom. During festivals, the royal court organized very solemn and formal ceremonies. On the Đoan Ngọ Festival day, rites were held in the palaces of Thái Miếu and Chí Kính in commemoration of late emperors, then the King hosted an ordinary royal audience at Cần Chính Palace where he rewarded courtiers and mandarins with paper fans. The fan-rewarding ceremony implies that the King granted the masses with “benign breeze”.
Before the Đoan Ngọ Festival day, mandarins made a list of votive offerings used in the ceremony at the palaces of Thái Miếu and Chí Kính. After the list was approved by the King, Thần trù (royal cooks in charge of preparing royal banquets), Lương uẩn (royal brewers specializing in liquor brewery), and Thần cung (officials responsible for rites and ceremonies) arranged votive offerings and made other preparations for the main ceremony on the Đoan Ngọ Festival day. The votive offerings included an alive buffalo, a cooked cow, ten boxes of cooked food, ten baskets of glutinous rice, ten baskets of melon, and one jar of high-quality liquor. On the Đoan Ngọ Festival day, all courtiers and mandarins gathered and attended the ceremony at Thái Miếu and Chí Kính Palaces.
On the Đoan Ngọ Festival day, the royal court specified in the royal records of rite that an ordinary royal audience would be held at Cần Chính Palace. Senior courtiers gathered there to congratulate the King. A historical story said that in 1503, a comet appeared in the East and Emperor Lê Hiến Tông himself composed and wrote the following poem on his fan:
“Mars rises at midnightAnnually, the mandarin in charge of royal fan, together with officials from the Ministry of Public Work, made a list and submitted it to the Ministry of Finance for a sum to make paper fans used in the Đoan Ngọ Festival. The King gave these fans to royal family members, courtiers, mandarins and officials. At the transitional time between spring and summer, the bestowal of paper fans on the Đoan Ngọ Festival day was meaningful, implying that the King gave “Blessings, Good health, and Peace”.
To organize the King’s fan-giving ceremony, it was stipulated that the Ministry of Finance transferred a sum to Đào Xá - a fan-making village. Formerly, Đào Xá Village belonged to Ngọc Cục Canton, Đường An District, Thượng Hồng Prefecture, Hải Dương Region. It is now Đào Quạt Village, Bãi Sậy Commune, Ân Thi District, Hưng Yên Province. This was a famous fan-making village; some villagers later moved to Hà Nội where they founded Hàng Quạt Street and built Xuân Phiến Temple dedicated to their craft founder. Đào Xá was the only village selected by the royal court for making paper fans used on the Đoan Ngọ Festival day.
In the past, Đào Xá Village had many talented craftsmen who made valuable fans used by the royal court. Made of precious materials (elephant ivory, tortoise-shell), a fan used in the royal court was also decorated with the motifs of gemstone-playing dragons, dancing phoenixes, sun and five- coloured clouds, and rimmed with bronze/silver lemon flowers, chrysanthemum or geometric patterns. Mandarins and aristocrats also used fans made of dó-paper and bamboo laths. In addition, Đào Xá Village also produced other kinds of fans for daily use.