Rõm Temple

Rõm Temple belongs to Thanh Hà Village, Trung Giã Commune, and is a place of worship with a long history, closely associated with the spiritual life of the local people over many generations. The temple worships Mẫu Thượng Ngàn, Chúa Sơn Trang, and Đức Thánh Trần, and is also an important space for the community's cultural and spiritual activities. With its distinctive historical, religious, architectural, and landscape values, Rõm Temple has become a destination for local people and visitors from far and wide, a place where people return to their roots, remember their ancestors, and reflect on the traditional cultural values of their homeland.

According to folk legend, Mẫu Thượng Ngàn was the eldest daughter of Tản Viên Sơn Thánh and Princess Mỵ Nương, and is one of the three supreme Holy Mothers of the Three Palaces in the Vietnamese Mother Goddess worship. Since the beginning of creation, the Holy Mothers were assigned to rule different regions of heaven and earth. Mẫu Thượng Ngàn rules the mountains, forests, caves, and 81 forest gates, and is the Holy Mother associated with nature, plants, and the life of mountain-dwelling people. In the folk mind, the Mother was a person of virtue, talent, and beauty who taught people how to hunt, cultivate, farm, use fire, and prepare food. Thanks to this, the lives of the inhabitants became increasingly stable, crops flourished, and people learned to rely on nature for survival and development. For this reason, Mẫu Thượng Ngàn is revered and worshipped by the people, and her merits have been passed down through many generations.

Rõm Temple has long been handed down as a sacred land. Legend has it that people passing along Road 35, about a mile from the temple, had to dismount from their horses, stop their vehicles, take off their hats, and bow their heads to show respect before the sacred site. The temple's ancient stele also records traces of a sacred and highly numinous temple, showing the position of Rõm Temple in the religious life of the community for many generations. Ancient couplets preserved at the relic, such as “Thiên tiên thánh mẫu cầu tất ứng – Danh cổ Thanh Lâm hiển uy linh,” express the people's belief in the responsiveness of the Holy Mother and the sacredness of the ancient Thanh Lâm land. Over time, the good reputation of the temple has penetrated deeply into the minds of local people and visitors from afar. Whenever they return to their homeland, many people come here to offer incense, commemorate their ancestors, express reverence for the deities, and reconnect with their roots.

Thanh Hà Village is a land with a long history that has gone through many changes over time but still preserves distinctive cultural and religious values. Ancient couplets still convey the image of a land with fertile fields and gardens and beautiful mountain and forest scenery, expressing the harmony between people and nature. Historical records and local tradition acknowledge the contributions of Mr. Vũ Bá Kỷ and his wife, Mrs. Đỗ Thị Nga, whose courtesy name was Diệu Nhã, from Ngưu Trì Village, Cổ Ra Commune, Nam Trực District, Nam Định Province, in reclaiming this land when it was still wasteland with ruined communal houses and shrines. Through the process of reclaiming, building, and protecting the homeland, generations of local people gradually created a rich cultural space, in which Rõm Temple is an important highlight.

The cultural space of Thanh Hà is also shaped by a system of relics and landscapes closely tied to community life, such as the village communal house, Quan Quận Temple, Đầm Quạt Lake, Hoa Sơn Tịnh Thất, and other religious and belief sites. This is a land where many cultural layers converge, where Buddhism, Mother Goddess worship, Saint worship, Deity worship, and various forms of folk belief coexist, creating a diverse and identity-rich spiritual space. The location of Thanh Hà Village also has special features, as it lies near spiritual tourism sites such as Sóc Temple, Đồng Quan, and the Nội Bài International Airport area. Road 35 connects the area with many localities, creating favorable conditions for transport links and for promoting the local cultural and historical values. The mountain and forest scenery, lakes, and rural space create a harmonious beauty that is both intimate and simple and imbued with a sacred character, contributing to the potential for developing eco-tourism linked with cultural and spiritual tourism.

Besides its historical and religious values, Rõm Temple also has outstanding architectural and artistic value. The relic was built in the Đinh-shaped layout, including many components such as the temple gate, Đền Trình, temple courtyard, front hall, rear sanctuary, and auxiliary structures. The temple gate is one of the most prominent components, symmetrically constructed with three passageways. The two ornamental pillars at the main entrance are decorated with many images carrying symbolic meanings in traditional art, such as the four phoenixes, double dragons, tiger masks, nghê adoring, and phoenix holding a letter. The gate also preserves couplets in Chinese characters tied to the geographical location and landscape of the area, including the line “Tiền môn liên lộ tam thập ngũ – Hậu thùy Sóc Sơn thủy lưỡng lai,” recalling the temple's connection with Road 35 and Sóc Sơn Mountain.

The Đền Trình stands outside the front hall, consists of three bays, and was built in the traditional architectural style. Inside is a palanquin shrine for Mẫu Thoải along with ritual objects, an incense table, and horizontal plaques and couplets. From the courtyard up to the temple veranda is a carefully embossed image of double dragons flanking the moon, expressing the solemnity of the worship space. The front hall consists of three main bays, and its roof frame system is structured in the traditional architectural style with trusses, braces, rafters, beams, and purlins. Many horizontal plaques, couplets, and stone steles of documentary value are still preserved on the architectural components, including steles erected during the Bảo Đại period, contributing to reflecting the history of the relic's existence and its restoration and preservation.

The rear sanctuary is the most sacred space of Rõm Temple and is arranged in three bays. The central bay worships Mẫu Thượng Ngàn, the right bay worships Mẫu Sơn Trang, and the left bay worships Đức Thánh Trần. The shrines, incense tables, spirit tablets, and ritual objects are arranged solemnly, creating a space that is both ancient and sacred. In particular, the system of wooden artifacts such as horizontal plaques, couplets, curtain doors, shrines, thrones, spirit tablets, incense tables, worship platforms, and procession palanquins bears strong traditional folk artistic style. Familiar decorative themes such as the four seasons, four sacred creatures, and tiger masks are expressed harmoniously, having both aesthetic value and reflecting the conceptions, spiritual world, and beliefs of the ancients.

Rõm Temple is not only a place of worship but also a community cultural space maintained through many generations. Every year, from the 18th to the 20th day of the second lunar month, the people of Thanh Hà Village organize the Rõm Temple Festival at the beginning of spring. The festival is an occasion for the community to remember their ancestors, those who contributed to reclaiming land and founding the village and hamlets; at the same time, it expresses reverence for the Saints, Mothers, and deities worshipped at the temple. It is also an occasion for families, clans, and villagers to meet, strengthen community bonds, and turn together toward tradition and roots. Through the festival, cultural values are transmitted from generation to generation, contributing to educating younger generations about gratitude, the moral principle of remembering the source when drinking water, awareness of preserving the homeland, and responsibility toward the heritage of their forebears.

Over hundreds of years and through the vicissitudes of history, Rõm Temple has survived as a cultural witness of the Thanh Hà land. In 2013, Rõm Temple in Thanh Hà was ranked as a city-level historical and artistic relic. This is recognition of the historical, architectural, artistic, and religious cultural values that the relic has preserved. The Rõm Temple Festival is maintained annually with increasing solemnity and has become a typical cultural activity of the locality, contributing to enriching the spiritual life of the people and attracting visitors.

In the current context, preserving and promoting the value of Rõm Temple is even more important. Preserving the relic is not only about maintaining an ancient architectural work or a place of worship but also about protecting community memory and preserving historical stories, customs, beliefs, and moral values formed over many generations. Rõm Temple is a place connecting the past with the present, people with their homeland, and the community with history and tradition. Those values need to continue to be preserved with the joint efforts of the authorities, the people, and local descendants, and at the same time promoted in a way suited to contemporary cultural life.

Today, the people of Thanh Hà Village, Trung Giã Commune, are always proud of their homeland's tradition and the heritage left by their forebears. In the process of renewal and development, preserving Rõm Temple together with the system of relics, landscapes, and traditional cultural values not only helps enrich the community's spiritual life but also creates a foundation for building an increasingly civilized, rich, and beautiful homeland. Rõm Temple is therefore not only a sacred place of worship but also a symbol of history, culture, and community solidarity; it is a place reminding each person of their roots, the contributions of previous generations, and the responsibility to preserve good values for the future. Promoting that tradition, the people of Thanh Hà continue to unite, emulate in labor and study, and build their homeland, so that the cultural values of Rõm Temple will forever be preserved, spread, and become a source of pride for present and future generations.