To Temple (Oai No Temple)

To Temple, built in the center of To village, Oai No hamlet, Uy No commune, has been the center of religious activity for local people since ancient times. The temple was started very early but has undergone many restorations and repairs, so its architectural system no longer retains its former grandeur.

To Temple currently worships the two village tutelary deities, who are also two famous kings in the nation's history: King An Duong Vuong and King Trieu Viet Vuong.

Thuc An Duong Vuong was the successor to the cause of the Hung kings; he made contributions to unifying the Tay Au and Lac Viet tribes and founding the Au Lac state (1208 - 179 BC) . He organized resistance against Qin and Nam Viet. He ordered the construction of Co Loa citadel, trained troops to fight invaders, and protected the territory of Vietnam in the 3rd century BC.

Trieu Viet Vuong was the son of the tribal chief Trieu Tuc in the Chu Dien region. He was among those who responded to the uprising against the Liang army in 542 led by Ly Bi. In 545, Ly Bi transferred military authority to Trieu Quang Phuc to continue the resistance against Liang. He died on September 14 in the Canh Dan year (570), after 23 years on the throne. Remembering his merits, the people established temples to worship him in many places.

The temple still preserves the spirit records of the two kings, compiled by Nguyen Binh, Grand Secretary of the Dong Cac Academy, in the first year of Hong Phuc (1592) and copied on May 1 of the 17th Thanh Thai year (1905). The temple's sacred records state: the deities' birthday is August 11 and their day of transformation is March 7 of the lunar calendar; the transformation ceremony is held like the birthday but singing is forbidden; in taboo names, the word Phan must be avoided and read as Phớn, the word Nhan read as Nhân; during ceremonies, yellow and pink ritual garments are forbidden.

To village (Uy No) is a place that has recorded many historical traces related to An Duong Vuong and Co Loa (the land of Cha Chu). This is shown through the legend of An Duong Vuong stopping and setting up camp before building the citadel; through the worship of King An Duong Vuong with edicts bestowed from the Later Le, Le Trung Hung, to Nguyen dynasties; and through similar cultural features such as eating fried vermicelli with cần on festival days, organizing the king procession festival on the 4th day of the first lunar month, and village and commune names bearing the mark of King Thuc's dynasty: Uy No (the majesty of the magic crossbow), Kinh No (reverence for the magic crossbow), Cuong No (the strength of the magic crossbow), Oai No (the solemnity and power of the magic crossbow), especially traces still remaining today such as Vua mound, Chua garden, etc. All are clear evidence of the relationship between To village and Co Loa, and with Thuc Phan An Duong Vuong from the very beginning when the king left Bach Hac - Viet Tri to seek a new land to establish the capital and build his career.

To Temple still preserves a stone stele for the posthumous offering, dated the 8th year of Canh Thinh (1800); the stele is now broken in half and its characters are much worn, making it difficult to read. According to the village elders, this is a posthumous stele recording the merits of an official in the Later Le court who donated money and property to expand the village temple and communal house. Thus, it can be affirmed that To village temple was built during the Le period, before this merit stele was erected.

To village temple was built on a spacious, open site facing southeast. The temple has a beautiful position, and its architectural structure includes a three-entrance gate, front hall, worship hall, and rear sanctuary.

The temple's ceremonial gate is built in the four-pillar style, with two tall central pillars and two smaller side pillars opening into three entrances to the temple space.

The front hall is reached from the ceremonial gate across a large courtyard. The roof of the front hall is built in the overlapping two-tier, eight-roof style; the collar section is decorated with bracket motifs that give the relic an airy feel, and the roof corners are uniformly shaped as leaf dragons curving up to the roof ridge, appearing quite graceful. The roof frieze is decorated with lemon-flower motifs. In the center of the ridge is a raised relief of two dragons flanking a tiger emblem supporting a flaming sun, and both roof tiers are covered with shoe-nose tiles. On the roof of the front hall and the three-entrance gate are decorations of mythical creatures and flowers and leaves. The entire front hall currently serves as a place for receiving guests and holding village meetings.

The main temple has a structure in the shape of the character “đinh” including the central hall and rear sanctuary. The front has a ceilinged porch with a roof overhang, an architectural feature typical of the early 20th century. The central hall is built in the style of a gable wall with closed gable ends and a roof covered with local tiles; it consists of three bays and two side bays, with architectural decoration mainly on wood-carved panels in the artistic style of the 19th century. The newly restored parts still retain traditional decorative features, especially the reliefs of the four sacred creatures and four noble plants on the three-entrance gate and front hall...

The rear sanctuary consists of three bays running lengthwise and connected to the central bay of the main hall, forming a structure in the shape of the character “đinh”. The roof-supporting truss is made in the stacked beam style; all the beams here are planed smooth and left plain without decoration.

The collection of worship objects at To Temple is still quite rich. In addition to the spirit records and sacred edicts, the temple also has a horizontal plaque:

The Thuc Emperor is spiritually powerful; he suppressed the invaders and Trieu Da, securing the state.

King Trieu was illustrious; he eliminated the two enemies and became master of the land.

Meaning:

King Thuc's awesome spirit defeated the army of Trieu Da and brought peace to the state.

King Trieu was illustrious; he eliminated the two enemies and became master of the land.

Every year, in To village, the festival is held on the 4th day of the first lunar month (two days before the Co Loa festival).

To prepare for the festival, on the 21st day of the twelfth lunar month, the elders perform a ceremony to bathe and clean the statue and throne of the Holy One; the water is drawn by the elders from the communal house well and poured into a jar. On the festival day, the management board of the To temple and communal house relic prepares glutinous rice, pig head, banh day, incense and flowers, tea and fruit, and various cakes arranged as offerings to the Holy One. The seven hamlets of To village prepare their own offerings. On the main festival day, the authorities and local people hold the opening ceremony with incense and flower offerings by the elders and the villagers. On the morning of the 4th day of the first lunar month, an installation ceremony is held; the hamlets mobilize all residents to gather at the cultural house, then process the offerings to the To temple and communal house to worship the tutelary deity. Each hamlet prepares its own offerings and brings them to the temple and communal house to offer incense and pray for fortune and wealth.

The palanquins in the festival procession must be cleaned and kept at To Temple. The Long Dinh palanquin holds the spirit tablet, banh day, areca, betel, wine, water, incense and flowers, tea and fruit... The Bat Cong palanquin follows, carrying a platter of sticky rice, pig head, fruit, wine, and water, and is covered by a parasol. The palanquins are processed from the temple to the communal house; the procession follows Cao Lo road toward To market, passes through Suoc gate (Nghe), then passes Uy No Lower Secondary School and enters the communal house yard.

After the palanquins are processed to the yard of To communal house, they are lowered: the Long Dinh palanquin is placed on the right, and the Bat Cong palanquin is placed on the left of the communal house. Offerings are placed in the middle of the communal house yard; once the dragon throne is in place, they are brought inside the communal house in order to prepare for the ritual ceremonies. Today, the festival of the To village temple and communal house is still maintained annually with a solemn and respectful form of organization.

With its historical and artistic values, To Temple was granted a historical and architectural-artistic ranking certificate by the Hanoi City People's Committee in Decision No. 604/QD-UB dated January 26, 2006, and was granted a national-level historical and architectural-artistic relic ranking certificate by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in Decision No. 420/QD-BVHTTDL dated January 29, 2019.