Loc Ha Communal House

Loc Ha Communal House is in Loc Ha Village, Mai Lam Commune. At the beginning of the 19th century, the land of present-day Mai Lam Commune was the territory of Du Lam, Hoa Lam (later renamed Danh Lam), Loc Ha, and Mai Hien communes, belonging to Hoi Phu Canton, Dong Ngan District, Tu Son Prefecture, Kinh Bac Region (later Bac Ninh Province). During the French colonial period (before 1945), Danh Lam Commune developed into 3 villages (Le Xa, Phuc Tho, Thai Binh), and Du Lam Commune developed into 3 villages (Du Ngoai, Du Noi, Du Bi). After the August Revolution, Mai Lam Commune belonged to Tu Son District, Bac Ninh Province. In 1961, Mai Lam Commune was transferred to Dong Anh District and incorporated into Hanoi. Today Mai Lam Commune consists of 7 villages and 1 zone: Du Ngoai, Du Noi, Le Xa, Phuc Tho, Thai Binh, Loc Ha, Mai Hien, and Dia Chat.

According to the accounts of the village elders, the communal house formerly consisted of five bays with two wings, had a communal house courtyard, and a three-bay rear sanctuary; there were two rows of left and right sleeve houses, and many perennial trees were planted, such as banyan, red cotton, queo, and green trees.

Over time, the current architecture of the communal house includes: a gate, a courtyard, a square pavilion, and the main communal house comprising the front worship hall and the rear sanctuary.

The square pavilion has two tiers of stacked eaves; the roof ridge is decorated with a lemon-flower motif; the eave band is decorated with con tien-style balustrades; the roof corners are curved and the corner tips are dragon heads facing up toward the roof ridge; the roof is covered with shoe-shaped tiles. Next is the front worship hall, built with five bays and two side bays, roofed with shoe-shaped tiles; the roof ridge is decorated with two dragons flanking the moon; the curved sections feature a pair of mythical lions facing the front worship hall as if guarding the spirituality of worshippers; the four roof corners are curved, and each corner tip is decorated with a dragon head. The central bay has upper-latticed, lower-paneled doors; the two side bays are enclosed with solid wooden panels; the two outer bays are made in the upper-latticed, lower-paneled style; the two side bays are enclosed with solid wooden panels. The roof-supporting trusses are made in the style: "upper gia chieng, middle chong ruong", the two central trusses are made in the style: "bung con, front cantilever, rear cantilever", each truss includes the following components:

Loc Ha Communal House worships the village tutelary deities Dao Ky and Phuong Dung. Every year, the people of Loc Ha Village hold a festival at the communal house on the 10th day of the third lunar month to show reverence and to commemorate the great merits of the tutelary deities, who helped the country and the people and protected and blessed the people with prosperity, aiming to educate local young generations today and in the future in tradition.

Preparation for the festival takes place on the days before the festival. Before 1945, it was presided over by the Chief of the Festival, hosted by the village's Literature Committee, and the phe and giap groups were assigned to prepare one year or six months in advance. Today, the village festival is presided over by the village head together with the two groups of elders, the elderly association, the ritual committee, and the shrine keeper, who carry out festival preparations including: cleaning and tidying the area around the communal house and temple, and repairing and maintaining the village roads and the places through which the palanquin procession passes. The area inside the relic is assigned to the elderly men of the village.

The ritual committee consists of 32 members; each palanquin has 16 people (there are two bat cong palanquins); the costumes for ritual committee members are clothes, hia boots, and blue hats. Participants are selected according to the standards of being healthy, well-proportioned, without disabilities, with no bereavement in the family, with a wife who is not pregnant, and with good moral character.

For the deity worship ceremony, the chief celebrant must be well-rounded and have many descendants. Members of the ritual team are also carefully selected based on morality, conduct, and health. The chief celebrant is responsible for assigning and leading the officiants in carrying out the sequence of the ceremony.

The deity worship ceremony usually takes place from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m., performed by the male ritual team, consisting of 16 elders: 1 chief celebrant, 1 Eastern chanter, 6 cup presenters, 6 assistant celebrants, and 3 oration readers. The Eastern chanter and Western chanter assist the chief celebrant. The oration reader reads the oral text, and the Eastern chanter gives verbal commands. At the end of each movement, the assistant celebrants standing behind the chief celebrant bow, stand, and kneel according to the chief celebrant's movements.

Next is the palanquin procession. The palanquin is carried from the temple to the communal house along the village road, about 300 m long. At the front are 2 sacred flags, followed by the eight-treasure procession team, gongs and drums, and the musicians; then 4 young men carry an altar decorated with offerings to the Saint; then the deity palanquin is carried by 8 strong, unmarried young men wearing red costumes with blue belts; in front of the palanquin is a canopy and behind it a parasol; next are the male ritual team, the incense-offering team, and the high-ranking elderly of the village. Finally, villagers and pilgrims follow the procession back to the communal house. When they return to the communal house, the offerings are moved into the rear sanctuary.

On birthdays, death anniversaries, and celebratory festivals, the taboo names are clearly stated: the character Ky is strictly forbidden; during rituals, yellow and purple are forbidden; the two characters Phuong Dung are strictly forbidden; clothing must not use purple, and red is forbidden during the ceremony. Every year, at the deity offering feast, Dao Phuc must be respectfully invited to partake in the offerings.

Besides the ritual part, the festival part also takes place at the communal house, including folk games such as wrestling, tug of war, cockfighting, human chess, and volleyball. In the evenings during the festival days, tuong singing, cheo singing, quan ho singing, and mass cultural exchange performances are usually organized among the village's inter-family hamlets and partner units.

Loc Ha Communal House was ranked as a city-level Historical-Artistic relic under Decision No. 344/QD-UBND dated January 17, 2018.