Dong Ngan Communal House

According to the divine genealogy of Long Tuu village, Dong Ngan commune, Dong Ngan district, the village worships three generals, Khang Cong, Khiet Cong, and Lang Cong, who helped Phu Dong Thien Vuong fight the An invaders and save the country in the 6th century BC during the reign of King Hung Huy Vuong. After returning victorious, the three were conferred titles by King Hung: Khang Cong as Bao Khang Dai Vuong, Khiet Cong as Minh Khiet Dai Vuong, and Lang Cong as Quoc Lang Dai Vuong. At the same time, he allowed the people of Dong Ngan to become residents enjoying privileges. Later, all three passed away on the 18th day of the eighth lunar month. King Hung issued an edict allowing the people of Dong Ngan to worship the three as village tutelary gods.

According to customs maintained from the past to the present, the communal house jointly worships all three tutelary gods, while the three temples Thuong - Trung - Ha separately worship the three. Thuong Temple worships Minh Khiet, Trung Temple worships Bao Khang, and Ha Temple worships Quoc Lang.

Based on documents still extant at the relic such as the divine genealogy and royal edicts, among which the earliest edict dates to the 2nd year of Vinh Khanh (1730), and couplets and horizontal plaques, it can be inferred that the communal house was first built in the late Later Le period. Existing to the present, the relic has undergone many major restorations and repairs during the Nguyen period. During the resistance war against the French colonialists, the communal house was destroyed under the scorched-earth resistance policy, leaving only the rear sanctuary and the offering house. In 2004-2006, local people contributed money and labor to restore the communal house architecture on the old foundation, carried out repairs and embellishment, replanned the courtyard and garden, and built embankments around the pond in front of the communal house to create a landscape for the relic.

Dong Ngan Communal House is located on a large plot of land facing north; outside is a large pond, around which are embanked and planted with many shade trees. The communal house's ceremonial gate is built in the traditional four-pillar style with three entrances to the communal house.

Passing through the gate into a wide brick-paved courtyard, on both sides the offering houses are built with 5 bays and 2 wings in the style of closed gable walls, roofed with local tiles. Decorated with patterns of leaves, chrysanthemums, lime flowers, stylized lotus flowers, cloud motifs… all carefully refined in the artistic style of the 19th century (according to the elderly, this architecture came from the old communal house dismantled earlier, and during the resistance war was used as a cooperative warehouse).

The main communal house has a ground plan in the shape of the character “cong” comprising the main hall, the tube-shaped passage, and the rear sanctuary. The main hall consists of 5 bays and 2 wings, with a four-roof architecture and curved corners. The roof ridge is decorated with a continuous row of lime flowers. The two gables are adorned with kim heads transformed into lan, the edge beams are decorated with lan attending, the roof corners have flame leaves and dragons attending. The front is entirely open with folding doors.

The tube corridor consists of 3 bays, with four roof trusses, each truss supported by two wooden columns and buttress walls. Separating the tube corridor and the rear sanctuary is a wooden door system in the middle made as a four-leaf folding door with a half-height partition, with two-leaf entrance doors on both sides.

The rear sanctuary has 3 bays built in the style of closed gable walls with ngai-style braces. In the central bay, a brick altar is built against the rear wall to display offerings and place the throne of the tutelary god.

Decoration on the architecture of Dong Ngan Communal House focuses on the beam ends, eave brackets, corner braces, and truss members with familiar motifs such as: the four sacred creatures (dragon, unicorn, turtle, phoenix), dragon images, and the four noble plants (pine, bamboo, chrysanthemum, plum). On the tie beams and purlins, cloud patterns are carved in relief, combined with trailing chrysanthemum motifs; the bodies of the purlins are carved with the character “tho”. The carved decorative panels on the communal house architecture express wishes for water sources, abundant harvests, and prosperous people and material well-being.

Currently the relic still preserves many precious artifacts such as the divine genealogy, royal edicts, worship thrones, palanquins, horizontal plaques, couplets… Most notable is the set of divine royal edicts still kept at the relic, totaling 24 edicts dating from the Le to the Nguyen periods, including 4 edicts from the Later Le period; 2 from the Quang Trung period; 18 from the Nguyen period, among which the earliest bears the Vinh Khanh 2nd year (1730) and the latest bears the Khai Dinh 9th year (1924). From the reign of King Tu Duc to Khai Dinh, edicts were conferred on all three gods; earlier reigns conferred a joint edict on the three gods or on Bao Khang.

Every year Dong Ngan village organizes a festival to commemorate the gods' merits. The village festival is held on the 15th day of the second lunar month. The main festival is held once every five years. The customary festival takes place annually with full solemn rites of worshiping the gods. The ritual part includes worshiping the gods at the temples. On the 14th, a procession carries the dragon throne and spirit tablet from the temple to the communal house for worship; on 15/2 the gods are worshiped at the village communal house; on 16/2 the dragon thrones and spirit tablets of the gods are carried from the village communal house back to the temples, their residence. Especially on the village festival day, there is a custom of friendly exchange with Do Xa village (Yen Thuong commune) and Hoi Phu village (same commune) coming to join the festival.

Dong Ngan Communal House Relic was ranked as a City-level historical and artistic relic under Decision No. 2406/QD-UBND dated December 4, 2008.