National intangible cultural heritage: Traditional Festival of Tuong Phieu Communal House
Introduction
Traditional Festival of Tuong Phieu Village Communal House
Tuong Phieu Communal House, also known as Ca Communal House, belongs to Tuong Phieu Village, Phuc Tho Commune, Hanoi City. It is an ancient architectural work of large scale and high artistic architectural value. According to Prof. Tran Lam Bien: “The architecture of Tuong Phieu Communal House is a continuous link in folk architecture of the 16th-17th centuries… playing an important role in the Doai communal house system,” and Dr. Nguyen Hong Kien also commented “Tuong Phieu Communal House is a rare architectural work from the early 17th century”. According to Ngo Son Tu Bi, the communal house was restored in the At Dau year (1645). Thus, according to assessments by researchers and surviving inscriptions, Tuong Phieu Communal House dates to the early 17th century and is the largest communal house in the region still standing after the challenges of time and wars.
Tuong Phieu Communal House faces southwest, the direction the people of Tuong Phieu chose long ago so they could see Ba Vi Mountain, where the temple to Saint Tan Vien is located. Tuong Phieu Communal House includes the following items: Nghi Mon gate, courtyard, Dai Dinh main hall, Ta Mac left wing, and some auxiliary items. Because it has no Hau Cung rear shrine, the architectural traces from its construction through renovations remain in the character “Nhat” (–). The Dai Dinh consists of 3 bays and 2 double lean-tos; the central bay has an altar niche, above which are a dragon throne and a tablet worshipping the Three Great Kings, Supreme Deities, Tan Vien Son Thanh. The altar niche is elaborately carved with the image of two dragons flanking the moon and a system of bars carved in relief with coiling dragons instead of balusters. This decorative style is rarely found in the region.
Tuong Phieu Communal House worships the Three Saints Tan Vien, mountain deities widely worshipped in Doai, who were always conferred the title Supreme Deity by former dynasties, namely:
Tan Vien Son Quoc Chua, also Supreme Deity (in the center, taboo name Tuan).
Cao Son Dai Vuong, Supreme Deity (on the left, taboo name Sung).
Quy Minh Dai Vuong, Supreme Deity (on the right, taboo name Hien).
In addition, the villagers also jointly worship Quan Son, the village tutelary god, at an altar placed on the right side of the Dai Dinh.
In terms of architecture, the structural frame of the Dai Dinh has 4 main trusses with a structure of 6 rows of columns. The roof trusses of the 4 main trusses are made in the style gia chien - ke ngoi, the main columns and subordinate columns are all made of lim wood, with a floor. The main column system is quite large, with a circumference of about 1.5m - 1.6m.
Currently, the communal house bears many marks of different periods from the 17th to the 20th century; however, the most valuable feature of Tuong Phieu Communal House is its system of architectural components decorated with carvings dating from the 17th century. Compared with the 17th-century carving style of communal houses in the Doai region, Tuong Phieu Communal House has its own distinctive, easily recognizable character. This is clearest in the way earlier people shaped dragons on the corner brackets. They still used the familiar Doai dragon form, with the face facing forward, large round eyes, wide-spread ears, thick lips that look amusing and strongly folk-like. The difference is that the dragon's fins are made sparse and very large. Yet they remain soft rather than stiff thanks to rows of decorative details carved on the fins. On the dragon's head and feet there are also spiral patterns with carefully carved decorative details that are very beautiful. With this manner of shaping, the dragons of Tuong Phieu Communal House, although characteristic of the 17th century, also hint at the carving style of the Mac era in the 16th century. In addition, the communal house still preserves valuable carved panels depicting the life of people of that period, such as the panel about the story “Mr. Ba Vang and his son carrying offerings to the communal house,” and many other panels of sacred animals such as phoenixes and nghe…
Besides its outstanding values in artistic architecture, Tuong Phieu Communal House also preserves many distinctive intangible cultural heritage values expressed in the village festival through the ritual of burning Dinh Lieu - night palanquin procession.
At Tuong Phieu Communal House there are four main annual ceremonies: the Spring Festival from the 14th to the 16th of the first lunar month; the Saint Transformation Ceremony on the 14th of the fifth lunar month (with the custom of making round glutinous rice cakes); the Deity Conferment Ceremony on the 15th of the eighth lunar month; and Chap Dinh - the year-end ceremony on the 15th of the twelfth lunar month. There are also other observances such as: the 7th day of the first lunar month, Khai Ha Ceremony; the 1st day of the fifth lunar month and the 28th day of the seventh lunar month, Thuong Dien and Ha Dien ceremonies… Among them the Spring Festival period takes place from the 14th to the 16th of the first lunar month and is the main and largest festival period of the village; every three years, the villagers hold a grand festival in the years of the Rat, Horse, Cat, and Rooster: there is a procession of the Saint's palanquin to Ngo Son Temple (Ngo Temple) for worship in the morning and a procession of the Saint back to the communal house on the night of the 14th of the first lunar month; this is also the unique feature of the Tuong Phieu Communal House festival. The Traditional Festival of Tuong Phieu Communal House was recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage in 2024.
With its great historical, cultural, and artistic architectural values, Tuong Phieu Communal House was ranked at national level in Decision No. 74 VH/QD dated February 2, 1993, by the Ministry of Culture and Information (now the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism). On December 24, 2018, Tuong Phieu Communal House was honored to be ranked as a special national relic in Decision No. 1820/QD-TTg dated December 24, 2018, by the Prime Minister.
Traditional Festival of Tuong Phieu Communal House:
The traditional festival of Tuong Phieu Village, Phuc Tho Commune, Hanoi City, is held from the 14th to the 16th of the first lunar month every year to express the reverence and gratitude of the people of Tuong Phieu Village in particular and the people of Phuc Tho Commune in general toward the Three Saints Tan Vien Son Thanh and Quan Son, the village tutelary god, who rendered services to the villagers. The festival is one of the most distinctive festivals in the region; it involves the entire community of the village and commune. The ritual of processing the Saint's palanquin back to Tuong Phieu Communal House on the night of the 14th of the first lunar month has attracted a large number of people and created the festival's unique feature, famous throughout the old Doai region; a folk song says:
“Boi Dam, Gia procession, Thay festival
However joyful, it cannot equal the Ngo festival”
According to the village elders' tradition, the night palanquin procession custom of Tuong Phieu Village originates from the legend of Saint Tan: “Once, during an incognito royal tour to the Ngo Son region, absorbed in teaching the people fishing and finding ways to control floods, He and his retinue returned to the mountain quite late at night. As they reluctantly saw Him and his retinue off, the villagers used dry trees and branches to make torches to light the way and to contemplate the Saint for longer.
To remember and preserve forever for descendants the grand and deeply affectionate farewell scene of the villagers when seeing the Saint back to the mountain, in the years of the Rat, Horse, Cat, and Rooster, the people of Tuong Phieu village have organized a festival that includes a procession of the Three Tan Saints and the village Tutelary God from the Grand Communal House to the Ngo Temple so that They may revisit their former place of worship and the Saint may revisit the place where he made a tour and helped the villagers fish and control floods.
The procession of the Saints from the Grand Communal House to the Ngo Temple is held during the day to depict the Saints' excursion through the Ngo Son region. In the evening, the procession bringing Him back to the communal house is held at night to recreate the villagers seeing the Saint off to the mountain. The torches of old, now represented by dinh lieu plants and dragon torches, are prepared by the people throughout the year to light up a large area from the Ngo Temple back to Tuong Phieu communal house. The custom of carrying the Saint's palanquin at night was formed long ago and has been maintained to this day.
For the procession of the Saint's palanquin back to Tuong Phieu communal house, the villagers also call it the Night Procession Festival; it is held only once every three years (in the years of the Rat, Horse, Cat, and Rooster), so it is awaited and anticipated not only by the villagers but also by people from neighboring areas who come to watch. The festival is held in spring and the procession takes place at night, so all work is set aside so that local people, old and young, great and small, wear their most beautiful clothes to attend the festival and witness the sacred atmosphere of the Saint's palanquin procession back to Tuong Phieu communal house.
From early morning on the 14th day of the first lunar month in the year of Binh Ngo, the villagers gathered around the communal house; gongs and drums sounded joyfully, flags covered the sky, and a festive atmosphere filled the village roads and alleys.
On the evening of the 14th day of the first lunar month, along the roads, the closer it got to night, the more people poured toward Ngo Son Temple; the village roads and alleys were already packed, and the sounds of drums, gongs, and the chorus of the procession all created an atmosphere that was truly sacred, joyful and bustling, yet solemn.
It can be affirmed that through the festival of Tuong Phieu village communal house, one can see the spirit of community cohesion through the intangible cultural values preserved and handed down by generations of Tuong Phieu villagers. Deep within that culture of connection lies the tradition of close-knit solidarity of the villagers for generations, from daily life and labor and production to cultural and spiritual activities, becoming ever more inseparably connected, in rituals expressing spiritual beliefs toward the deity worshipped at Tuong Phieu village communal house.
