Hong Hau Communal House, Son Tay Ward, Hanoi City

Hong Hau Communal House is located in Phu Nhi residential group, Son Tay Ward, Hanoi City. It is a folk-belief architectural work built long ago and closely tied to the cultural and spiritual life of local people. The communal house is a place for community cultural activities, worship of deities who rendered merits to the people and the country, and preservation of the traditional historical and cultural values of the homeland.

According to Han Nom documents, folk legends, and survey results at the relic, Hong Hau Communal House worships two main subjects: the Water Deity and the Pottery Craft Ancestor. This is also a distinctive feature showing the connection between folk belief and the natural conditions, production life, and craft traditions of local residents.

According to the transmitted legend, the Water Deity worshipped at the communal house is Great King Nguyen, whose taboo name was Long Quan, a man of talent and virtue with great merits. Legend has it that when he came to the land of Dong Hau and saw its beautiful terrain and harmonious landscape, the Great King summoned the village elders and people, granted money to buy land, established a temple and communal house, and organized long-term worship. Remembering his merits, the people built a communal house for worship and kept incense burning through many generations.

In addition to worshipping the Water Deity, Hong Hau Communal House also worships the Pottery Craft Ancestor. According to historical documents, around the 15th century, under King Le Thanh Tong, a number of potters from traditional craft villages moved to the Phu Nhi area and, finding suitable clay there, set up kilns to produce pottery. Since then, the pottery craft increasingly developed, forming Lo Noi hamlet with many products serving daily life such as jars, vats, pots, earthenware pots, lime pots, tea urns, ritual objects, and building materials. Phu Nhi pottery is famous for its dark brown glaze like eel skin, high durability, and a ringing sound when tapped. The pottery craft once brought jobs and income to many local people. To remember the merit of their predecessors in passing down the craft, the people established an altar to the Pottery Craft Ancestor at the communal house, expressing the tradition of remembering the source when drinking water.

In terms of architecture, Hong Hau Communal House was built on high, dry land in the center of the village, facing southeast; in front is the Tich River, behind is the Red River. The overall relic bears the strong architectural style of a traditional northern Vietnamese village communal house. The gate was built in the pillar style, with kneeling mythical lions on top, and the pillar bodies bear Han Chinese couplets praising the beauty of the homeland and the merits of the village tutelary deity.

The Dai Bai is a horizontal building with three bays and two side wings, four roofs with curved corners. The roof ridge is decorated with a moon-face motif, the two ends of the ridge are shaped like dragons, and the roof ends are decorated with water dragons and traditional motifs. Inside, the wooden frame system is structured in the traditional architectural style, with roof trusses of the upper stacked beam type in the character 'tam', lower beams, side beams, and braces. The wooden components are carved with fairly delicate patterns of dragons, phoenixes, leaves, and cloud clusters. The rear sanctuary is where the throne, memorial tablets, and ritual objects are placed, creating a solemn and sacred worship space.

The communal house currently preserves many artifacts of historical, cultural, and artistic value, such as: palanquins, thrones, memorial tablets, wooden cranes, bronze incense sets, ceramic jars, horizontal plaques, couplets, ceremonial doors, eight treasures, bronze water stands, genealogies, and royal edicts, along with a number of other ritual objects. In particular, the genealogy and royal edicts are valuable documents that help reflect the worship tradition and belief life of local people through different periods.

Not only valuable in architecture and art, Hong Hau Communal House also preserves beautiful features of traditional festival activities. According to the relic records, the village festival is held from the 1st to the 2nd day of the third lunar month every year. During these days, people prepare offerings together, clean the communal house, and organize sacrificial rites and folk cultural activities. A distinctive ritual of the festival is the Moc Duc ceremony, held on the 1st day of the third lunar month. The water used for the ceremony is taken from the Red River and kept in a ceramic jar to perform the ritual of wiping and washing the throne and memorial tablets.

With its outstanding historical, cultural, architectural, and artistic values, Hong Hau Communal House was ranked as a historical-cultural relic by the People's Committee of Ha Tay Province in Decision No. 1509/QD-UB dated December 29, 2004.

Over time and through historical upheavals, some items of the communal house have deteriorated, but with the attention of authorities at all levels and the contribution of effort and money from the people, the relic has been gradually repaired and embellished, preserving its traditional architectural values. To this day, Hong Hau Communal House remains an important place for cultural and belief activities, a spiritual support and pride of generations of local people.

It can be affirmed that Hong Hau Communal House is not only a sacred place of worship but also a place preserving historical memory, craft traditions, customs, and the patriotic spirit of the people of the homeland. Preserving, safeguarding, and promoting the value of the relic is the common responsibility of authorities at all levels and all the people, contributing to traditional education, nurturing pride in the homeland, and passing on good cultural values to future generations.