Dong Dau Communal House

The Dong Dau Communal House belongs to Dong Dau Hamlet, Duc Tu Commune. Dong Dau Village also has the Sino-Vietnamese name Dong Dau and the colloquial name Dong Giau. Dong Dau Communal House worships the village tutelary deity Phuc Cong, a founding meritorious official who rendered great service in assisting the Later Le dynasty. Legend has it that Phuc Cong was the son of Mrs. Nguyen Thi Duyen in Thuy Van settlement and Mr. Le Tuan in Dong Dau settlement. He was highly skilled in martial arts, served as an official during the Later Le dynasty, and was conferred the title Quan Thong Do Ho Quoc Cong Dai Tuong Quan to lead troops to fight the enemy and protect the country. He passed away at the noon hour on the 10th day of the first lunar month. The king grieved and ordered a mourning ceremony, had him brought home for burial, and built a shrine for worship in his maternal homeland in the Trieu Dong area of Thuy Van Commune; he was posthumously conferred the title Superior Deity. The communal house was built during the Later Le Restoration period (1553–1789) and renovated during the Nguyen dynasty. In 1947, under the scorched-earth resistance policy, the communal house was dismantled to serve the revolution, leaving only the rear sanctuary and some ritual objects. In the following years, the communal house foundation and land were used as a warehouse and a cooperative drying yard. In 1999, the communal house was restored on the old foundation as a place of religious worship; in recent years, local people have repaired the courtyard, walls, ceremonial gate, and communal house pond, making them more spacious, clean, and beautiful while retaining the original appearance to this day. Dong Dau Communal House is located on land in the center of the village. In front of the communal house are the courtyard, ceremonial gate, and communal house pond, which is also where quan ho singing is held during the annual festival. The current communal house includes the ceremonial gate and the main communal house. The ceremonial gate is in the four-pillar style, facing the communal house pond, with one large central gate and two small side gates connected by four pillars, opening three entrances to the communal house. The front hall consists of five bays and two side wings, with three doors in the three central bays, windows in the two side bays, a ceilinged porch with a roof screen, and a small balcony on the central bay; the roof is covered with mũi hài tiles, and the floor is paved with bricks. The truss structure is simple, with crossbeams and braces, smoothly planed and tightly joined with molded edges. The front hall of Dong Dau Communal House is arranged like other relics. The central bay has a worship altar, on which are placed an incense burner, a set of three ritual objects (censer and crane), flower vases, and lamp stands. On both sides of the altar is a gilded and lacquered set of eight treasures comprising 12 sacred objects. Two large wooden worship cranes, lacquered and gilded, flank the altar. Above is a splendidly lacquered and gilded ornamental curtain-door carved with themes of the four sacred animals and four noble plants. Horizontal plaques and couplets are arranged in the central bay of the front hall, before the entrance to the rear sanctuary, and in the two side bays. In the two side bays of the front hall are two altar tables, on which are displayed ritual objects such as incense burners, lamp stands, flower vases, and offering trays. The left bay has a white votive war horse. The rear sanctuary is connected to the front hall to form the character “đinh” consisting of two longitudinal bays, with a brick floor. Below is a platform for displaying ritual objects; above the two side doors are two horizontal plaques inscribed with Chinese characters. Stepping through the door sill into the interior, there are two altars to the Saint. The central altar has a gilded and lacquered wooden shrine; inside is a statue of the Saint seated on a throne with his hand in a ritual gesture; below the altar are a stone incense burner, a box containing edicts, a box containing the deity's legend, offering trays, and flower vases... The left altar has a wooden shrine, inside which is a gilded and lacquered tablet of the Saint. The communal house still preserves a rich number of artifacts dating to the 19th-century artistic period, such as: a copy of the deity's legend kept at the Institute of Social Sciences Information; the ornamental curtain-door, represented with soft lines using high-relief and openwork carving, with images of dragons flanking, dragons playing with clouds, pine, chrysanthemum, bamboo, plum, wave patterns, and stylized clouds; the front altar and the bay altar are carved in relief with cloud, water-wave, chrysanthemum, lotus, transformed dragon, and transformed unicorn motifs; two shrines made compactly but very elaborately; the throne of the Saint with a body of coiled dragons and dragon-carved armrests; the worship statue with a pinkish face and the dignified, majestic posture of a military general, its clothing decorated with tiger motifs, chrysanthemums, and stylized lotuses, and its hand in a ritual gesture. Notably, the two scroll-shaped panels placed above the entrance to the rear sanctuary are elaborately crafted with decorations of trailing chrysanthemums, tiger faces, seal-script patterns, and graceful plum blossoms; the box containing the deity's legend and the box containing edicts have exquisite carvings... Two attractive stone incense burners with seal-script patterns, blooming chrysanthemums, piled clouds, and trailing chrysanthemums. The tablet of the Saint is elaborately carved with themes of the four sacred animals, four noble plants, and trailing chrysanthemums, surrounded by dragon-scale shapes splendidly lacquered and gilded, along with many other diverse ritual objects. Every year, local people hold a festival on the 10th day of the second lunar month, the Saint's birthday, to express gratitude for the merits of the village tutelary deity, recall the historical tradition of their ancestors in the early days of nation-building and national defense, and educate younger generations about tradition. During the festival, people organize ceremonies at the communal house and at the Saint's tomb in the riverside alluvial area along the Duong River in Mai Lam Commune. In addition, villagers also organize quan ho singing at the pond in front of the communal house and organize folk games. The festival demonstrates the solidarity of the village community and attracts a large number of participants.

The Dong Dau Communal House relic was ranked as a city-level historical and artistic relic under Decision No. 1691/QD-UBND dated March 28, 2014.