Welcome, dear visitors!
Welcome, dear visitors, to a spiritual cultural heritage of the heroic homeland of Hoa Xa, the An Phu Communal House relic.
An Phu Communal House (also called Thu Communal House) is in Dang Giang Village, Hoa Xa Commune, Hanoi City and was ranked as a city-level historical and cultural relic under Decision No. 167/QD-UBND dated February 25, 2000.
At the beginning of the 19th century, An Phu (then Doan Xa Village) belonged to Dai Duong Canton, Ung Thien District, Son Nam Thuong Prefecture. Under Nguyen Minh Menh, Son Nam Thuong Prefecture was abolished, and An Phu belonged to Hanoi Province. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was changed to Ha Dong Province. From July 1, 2026, An Phu Pagoda belongs to Dang Giang Village, Hoa Xa Commune, Hanoi City.
From the capital Hanoi, go to Ha Dong, follow National Highway 6 to the Ba La Bong Do junction, turn left onto National Highway 21B and pass Binh Da - Nga Tu Vac - Van Dinh - to the Hoa Xa Commune dike head, then follow the road to Phu Ly to kilometer 38 to reach the An Phu Communal House relic.
An Phu Village, Hoa Xa Commune, has a history of formation and development from very ancient times. Therefore, the traditional village religious architecture system was also built early to meet the belief needs of the village community and to preserve the traditional cultural values of the nation.
The tutelary deity worship system of An Phu, as well as of neighboring villages, worships people who had merit in reclaiming land and establishing hamlets, and in defeating foreign invaders to protect the homeland and country.
According to ancient documents currently kept at the relic and local folk legends, An Phu Communal House worships the village tutelary deities Chieu Cong and Moc Cong.
The legends of the deities are as follows:
At that time, in the land of Quang Tay (one of the 15 divisions in the time of Lac Long Quan), there was a mountain deity who was a phu dao, that is, a district chief official, of the same lineage as the Hung kings of one hundred eggs, whose name was Hung Trac, who married Mrs. Nguyen Thi Thuc from Van Ninh ward. He was an upright man, generous and harmonious in virtue, valued righteousness and despised wealth, and was wholly public-minded and incorruptible. At that time, the world often suffered natural disasters, rainstorms, and rivers and seas overflowed and flooded; people in many places suffered heavy damage, and robbers often disturbed good people. Seeing this, the king sent Mr. Trac Cong, the phu dao, on an inspection tour of places in Son Tay and Son Nam, leading troops to Doan Xa Village, An Phu Commune, Hoai An District, Ung Thien Prefecture, and rested here for one night. Just as Trac Cong was dozing off, he suddenly saw an old man with phoenix eyes and dragon eyebrows, wearing golden armor and a brocade belt, holding two white tigers, who said to him: “Now the governing lord has great virtue, so Heaven's heart shines through and has sent me down to your house to repay that merit.”, saying this, he immediately disappeared. The governing lord woke with a start and knew it was a prophetic dream. Afterwards, Trac Cong continued to go and suppress the robbers until peace was restored, reported to the royal court, and then returned to Quang Tay.
At about that time, the governing lord Trac Cong was 40 years old, and his wife Nguyen Thi Thuc was 39. One day, while she was resting in Dong Cung Palace and had just fallen into a deep sleep, she saw two white tigers pounce on her belly and roar three times. She woke with a start and realized she had been dreaming. From then on she conceived and after 14 months gave birth to a sac containing two boys. At that time, at the hour of Ox on the tenth day of the first lunar month of the Nham Ty year, their appearance was majestic and fierce, their faces were extraordinary, on their heads was the shape of the five mountains, the four corners were high, and on their backs were seven hairs more than three inches long. It was truly a strange physical form. After one hundred days, the governing lord held a banquet and named them: the elder was Chieu Cong, the younger was Moc Cong. When they were 5-6 years old, the governing lord sent them to study with a teacher of the Ly family. The two were talented and intelligent; after only a few years of study they had thoroughly mastered the Five Classics and all books.
When the two were 18 years old, on the 15th day of the second month, Trac Cong passed away. The two submitted a memorial to the king, and the king sent officials to conduct the funeral right at his place of work (Quang Tay). Then the king appointed the two to the position of Son Nam chief lord. As generals, the two were skilled in strategy and renowned in all directions.
When the two were 25 years old, their mother, Nguyen Thi Thuc, passed away. At that time, the country faced invasion; the divine general Thach Linh led millions of elite troops from the north to invade our country, and reports arrived five times a day.
The king then sent armies to block them, and appointed Mr. Chieu Cong as Left General and Moc Cong as Right General, leading 5,000 troops to patrol everywhere, intercept and attack the An invaders, and advance straight to Kinh Bac. When they reached Thuan An Prefecture, Gia Lam District, they saw the An invaders, and the two attacked in a pincer movement. The enemy was strong, so the two withdrew to Hoa Dinh Commune, Hoai An, and stationed troops there for one night. Afterwards they went to Dai Duong Canton, An Phu Commune, Doan Xa Village (present-day An Phu), where the two ordered soldiers to set up a post for one month. Seeing more and more enemy troops arriving, and their naval force having reached the Hat River, the two went out to fight and defeated the enemy. After that, enemy reinforcements arrived and surrounded them on four sides; seeing that it was difficult to win, the two urged their troops to break the encirclement and return to the An Phu post. The people greatly admired the two because when they went to fight, they called on village elders to take charge of the post, help the poor, elderly, and weak, and provide for poor people and relatives; therefore everyone followed them to fight the enemy.
For more than a year, the two men's army constantly faced the enemy and preserved its main force and soldiers. At that time Thach Linh's army was strong, while the king was weak. The king sent envoys to summon the two to court to discuss plans to fight the enemy, and the king appointed Mr. Chieu Cong as Commander of the vanguard army, and Moc Cong as Deputy Grand Commander of the naval central army, leading 50 warships by water to intercept and attack the An invaders.
When they reached Nam Hai Duong Chau and met the An invaders, the two attacked in a pincer movement; after ten bouts the outcome was undecided. Then the two were surrounded on four sides, and the enemy used crossbows to hit them. Wounded, the two jumped on horses, broke through the encirclement, fled back to Ung Thien Prefecture, Hoai An District, Dai Duong Canton, An Phu Commune, Doan Xa Village, went straight into the old palace, and passed away there on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month. When the people held the funeral, they immediately established the main tomb to worship the two, and the king bestowed titles:
First deity: Minh Thong Chieu Phap Quoc Vuong Dai Vuong.
Second deity: Doan Truc Trung Chinh Moc Than Dai Vuong.
Permitted for Doan Xa Village, An Phu Commune, Dai Duong Canton, Hoai An District, to officially worship them.
An Phu Communal House was built for the purpose of worshipping the village tutelary deity, so it belongs to the type of religious architecture known as a communal house.
An Phu Communal House was built on a beautiful, airy plot of land, located right beside the village on the bank of the Day River, facing southwest. In front of the communal house is a view of the Day River; behind it is the village's cultivated field. The architecture was built in the shape of the Chinese character dinh (J) including the Dai Bai (main worship hall) and Hau Cung (rear sanctuary).
According to the village elders, An Phu Communal House formerly had a fairly large and imposing scale. During the resistance war against the French, the Dai Bai hall was destroyed and burned down. In 1996, the Dai Bai hall was solidly restored by the villagers as it is today.
At present, An Phu Communal House includes: the Dai Bai hall and the Hau Cung.
Entering An Phu Communal House, through a wide courtyard one reaches the Dai Bai hall. The Dai Bai of An Phu Communal House consists of 3 bays. The interior of Dai Bai is spacious and airy, the floor is flat and smoothed with cement, and in front is the monument protection system.
Dai Bai is built in the style of 8 roofs with 8 curved roof corners. In the middle of the ridge is embossed “Two dragons adoring the moon” the curved roof corners soaring at the four roof corners make the two main roofs become graceful and light. The outer surface of the roof corners is embossed with vivid dragons, winding and pointing upward. In the panels there are decorative friezes with fretwork lines embossed and painted according to the four sacred creatures themes. Inside, Dai Bai is built mainly with lime and bricks, with architecture leaning toward durability. Dai Bai is 12.30m long and 5.80m wide. The interior of Dai Bai is dignified because it is decorated with a system of horizontal plaques, parallel sentences, and ceremonial objects such as swords, banners, and the eight precious objects.
Connecting to Dai Bai is the Hau Cung (rear sanctuary). The Hau Cung of An Phu Communal House is built according to a new folk architectural layer but still follows the Hau Cung method, always solemn, with a narrow area, and the altars are placed in the highest position.
Two long thrones with spirit tablets are dedicated to the village tutelary gods, Chieu Cong and Moc Cong.
The Hau Cung is 5m long and 4.250m wide.
Through the harsh devastation of nature and prolonged wars and fires in history, An Phu Communal House still preserves a number of artifacts of cultural value.
- 9 royal edicts from various dynasties conferring titles on the village tutelary god.
- 1 genealogy book in Han characters.
- 2 long thrones from the Nguyen dynasty.
- 1 incense table carved in openwork on 4 sides.
- 1 horizontal plaque bearing 4 Han characters “Trach Ky Thien Phoi”.
- 1 pair of parallel sentences:
- 2 earthenware incense burners from the Nguyen dynasty.
- 4 porcelain wine jars.
- 1 box for storing edicts.
- 1 pair of bronze cranes
- 1 bronze censer.
- 1 set of the eight precious objects.
In the past, the people of An Phu village annually organized festivals and activities of spiritual culture at the pagoda. On Tet Nguyen Dan, festivals and holidays during the year, and monthly full-moon and first-day days, elderly people of both sexes went to the communal house and pagoda to pray to the saints and worship the Buddha, wishing for health and peace for all members and the community.
The village's traditional festival annually takes place on the 10th day of the first lunar month, which is the great festival day.
Preparation work: The previous day, the ceremonial thon was carried in procession from the main tomb at the Lang to Xuan Communal House, with an eight-pole palanquin, fans, the eight precious objects, spears, and ceremonial escort; the procession participants dressed as ancient soldiers; at the front were 4 chiefs with flags and horns clearing the way and keeping order; behind the palanquin were village officials, notables, and the full population of the village.
During the festival there is a contest of processions with banh day and banh chung. The village has 3 giáp: Doai giáp, Dau giáp, and Le giáp, according to separate clans. Le giáp consists of small clans combined into one giáp; each giáp appoints 4 communal-house heads to oversee the great festival day. Each giáp has 2 offering stands, one base cake stand (large banh day) and one top cake stand (small banh day). In addition to banh day, each offering stand also has banh chung, che kho, che lam, and sesame candy. There are 4 plates of each kind of sesame candy, 3 kg of boiled molasses, and various fruits; each offering stand uses about 100kg of glutinous rice.
On the morning of the 10th, the offering stands of the 3 giáp are carried in procession to the communal house for the god-worshipping ceremony, with dragon and lion dances following the ceremony until the end of the night. The next morning, stick dancing, wrestling, and boat racing contests are organized....
Annually on March 3 is the Mother Goddess Festival. The Mother Goddess Festival is also organized similarly to the 10th day of the first lunar month but without the offering ceremony, only with literary worship and the festival organization.
An Phu Communal House was built to meet the spiritual and religious needs of the village community. An Phu Communal House worships the village tutelary gods Chieu Cong and Moc Cong, who made great contributions to fighting invaders and defending the country and helping the poor. The communal house still retains the architectural scale of a communal-house religious institution. Many precious artifacts are still preserved in the communal house.
We respectfully invite you to experience the traditional spiritual cultural space at the historical and cultural relic An Phu Communal House, Dang Giang village, Hoa Xa commune, Hanoi city, to immerse yourself in the cultured culture of the Van Hien Doai region!
