Thượng Đình Communal House, Thượng Đình Village, Thường Tín Commune, Hanoi City

The three Thượng Đình villages, Nhị Khê Commune, Cổ Hiền Canton, Thượng Phúc District, Sơn Nam Region were originally a place of worship for four principal deities; today, due to historical circumstances and natural changes, Thượng Đình Communal House worships Linh Lang Đại Vương, and the legend is summarized as follows:

Linh Lang Đại Vương was originally a water deity of the South and was extremely sacred. In ancient times, Lạc Long Quân married Âu Cơ, who gave birth to a sac of one hundred eggs that hatched into one hundred sons, who grew up without being raised. Lạc Long Quân then took fifty sons down to the water realm, dividing the coastal regions among them. Fifty sons went up to the high mountains, dividing the lands among them; this was called the Hùng Vương era. Linh Lang Đại Vương was the eldest of the fifty sons who followed their father to the sea. At first he often manifested his power in the Lower Sơn Nam region, at the headwaters of the Hoàng Giang River. His power to summon rain and wind, move mountains, and build dikes was truly extraordinary. In the reign of Emperor Lý Thái Tông, during the Thông Đoan era, one night the king dreamed that the deity Linh Lang came to him; after bowing, the deity said: When I die, I will become a prince. The king awoke, and indeed a boy was born in the palace. Later he was extremely intelligent. At the age of eight he contracted smallpox and could not be cured; when he died he became Huyền Ngoan and merged into the Tô Giang River. The king was deeply grieved and ordered a temple on the riverbank at Da Kiều Village and commanded the local people to worship there. Later he was conferred the original title Linh Lang Đại Vương; from then on the deity was very sacred. Later he was further bestowed the title: Kỳ Tình Đảo Vũ Anh Linh; his majestic power shone brightly, equal to other deities, warding off disasters. He manifested together with Bạch Mã and Cao Sơn as brother deities of the South. People passed down his worship; he is one of the four most sacred deities worshipped in our country.

In the reign of King Lê Nhân Tông, in the years Kỷ Tỵ and Canh Ngọ, two consecutive years of severe drought, the king ordered villages to build shrines for rain-praying. To this day, the three Thượng Đình villages in Nhị Khê Commune, Thượng Phúc District, Cổ Hiền Canton all have places of worship; the deity's power is illustrious, with conferrals of robes and titles, and incense and fire have continued for thousands of years. Now, grateful for his blessings, the title is respectfully bestowed: Diệu Hoá Hiệp Linh Trợ Thuận Tá Chính Hiển Phù Hoằng Hợp Đẳng Phúc Thần.

The three Thượng Đình villages, Nhị Khê Commune, Cổ Hiền Canton, Thượng Phúc District, Sơn Nam Region originally had a common communal house, Ba Chạ Communal House. This was the gathering place for the people of the whole commune on feast and festival days. It was the oldest and largest communal house of old Nhị Khê, built at the center of the commune, but it was destroyed by the French colonialists when they built the Thông Pagoda post in 1948. The site of the old Ba Chạ Communal House is now Nhị Khê Commune Secondary School; traces still present include a centuries-old ancient tree in the schoolyard and an altar for two stone generals, which has now been moved by Thượng Đình villagers to the area outside adjoining the Đại Bái of Thượng Communal House. In the schoolyard on days of heavy rain, when the soil is eroded, stone foundation blocks are revealed.

The current Thượng Village communal house is located right at the village entrance, with a đinh-shaped layout: the Đại Bái in front and the Hậu Cung extending behind. The relic landscape remains almost intact with the following items: communal pond, Nghi Môn and trụ biểu, spacious communal yard, left and right mạc, Đại Bái, and Hậu Cung.

From the road outside, we can clearly see the landscape of the Thượng Communal House complex half-hidden behind ancient green trees in front of the communal house, creating the peaceful scene and space of a traditional Vietnamese village with its banyan tree, water well, and communal yard.

The first item we encounter is the communal pond, where local people grow lotus year-round; next is the Nghi Môn trụ biểu system with two main pillars and two smaller side pillars. On top of the main pillars are nghê figures; between the two pillars is a screen wall, its upper frieze decorated with a scroll motif containing four Chinese characters, and the lower part with the character for longevity. This screen was erected to block impurities from entering the relic. On both sides of the relic are two rows of left and right mạc with three bays and sturdy truss structures, repaired by local people in the Canh Ngọ year, 1990.

The Đại Bái of Thượng Communal House has five bays, corresponding to six roof trusses on a plan of four rows of columns. The upper beam records the date Third Year of Thành Thái.

The two sloping roofs are covered with ri tiles; at the center of the main ridge is a hổ phù image carrying the sun; at both ends of the ridge are two đấu pillars and two kìm dragons holding the ridge, with bờ giải built along the communal house ridge and stepped at the ends. Connecting the two trụ biểu to the gable end of the Đại Bái are two small bays used to worship two stone generals. These are the two deities carried by local people from the common Ba Chạ Communal House after it was destroyed by the French in 1948. The trusses inside the Đại Bái have a chồng rường giá chiêng structure; where the tops of the military columns meet the main columns is a xà nách system, above which are kẻ ngồi. In the central bay above hangs a horizontal plaque inscribed with four characters: Huệ ngã đồng nhân, meaning spreading grace to all. The two side bays have plaques: Chí thành khôn nguyên and Âm dương hợp đức. Below is a cửa võng carved mainly with chrysanthemum motifs, expressing everyone's wish for peace for every family. On the main column of the central bay, notably, is a couplet praising the boundless merit of the village tutelary deity. The couplet reads:

Original Han text:

Tối tú tối linh thánh đức nguy chiếu phù quốc thái;

Nãi văn nãi vũ thần công hạo dã hộ dân khang.

Translation of meaning:

Very beautiful, very sacred, the saint's grace shines and protects the fatherland in peace;

This is literary culture, this is martial merit; the deity's merit shines brightly, protecting the people in safety.

The Hậu Cung of Thượng Communal House extends behind in a fish-tail shape; the porch is divided into three uneven bays, the central bay has an incense altar with ritual objects above. The Hậu Cung porch has three doors, the central door is left open above, and the walls of the two side bays bear decorative inscriptions. Inside the Hậu Cung is a shrine with a dragon throne, the tutelary deity's tablet, and costumes and hats. Overall, the wooden structure in the relic reflects Nguyễn-era carving art, mainly smoothed and fitted for durability. A notable and research-worthy artifact is the Bát palanquin set in Lê-era carving style.

Thượng Đình Village holds three festival periods each year. The first is from the 5th, 6th, and 7th days of the second lunar month; the second from the 8th, 9th, and 10th days of the fifth lunar month; the third from the 8th, 9th, and 10th days of the eleventh lunar month. The second-month festival is somewhat larger in scale. This is a purely village festival of wet-rice agricultural people; it is not tied to the birth or death day of the tutelary deity but is closely linked to the sacred space of the communal house, temple, and pagoda where it takes place.

According to village custom, to prepare for the festival, from the first days of the month, that day is designated as the drum-beating day to discuss village affairs and establish the new year festival organizing committee. The committee meets with the village's two giáp, Thượng and Đoài, to deploy preparations for offerings and assign people to festival service positions. Each giáp appoints four Lềnh, including one chief Lềnh, along with tuần đinh, and rotates families in its giáp for specific tasks such as carrying flags and palanquins.

Next, everyone in the village joins in cleaning village roads, lanes, the communal yard, palanquin shelters, and erecting flags, flowers, and a nêu pole. The temple keeper handles cleaning inside the communal house. Before the main feast day, the festival committee checks all preparations. On the 5th, from 7:30 to 8:00, officials and villagers carry the palanquin prepared by the giáp to fetch water from the only well in the middle of the fields back to the communal house. The procession is arranged as follows: at the front is an eight-tone band of five people with flags, drums, and a long đình palanquin carrying a porcelain jar for water; behind the long đình palanquin are elderly Buddhist women chanting sutras and a row of wooden bát bửu. The second palanquin carries offerings including incense, flowers, oản, and fruit; next is a bát bửu row with swords. In the middle is the village ritual team, followed by a ritual master for worship. The procession follows the village's main road to the field well; the chief celebrant performs the rite, then rows a boat to the middle of the well to scoop water into the porcelain jar placed on the palanquin. The return order is as before. Upon reaching the communal yard, the palanquins are set down, with the long giá palanquin in the middle and the water palanquin outermost. Then the palanquins are taken into the sanctuary to prepare for the ritual; the water palanquin continues to be used to carry the oration at the house of the chief or deputy lý dịch, chosen by the village as the year's tả văn. The oration prays that the tutelary deity protect the people and bless the nation with peace and the people with well-being. Accompanying the oration palanquin are four palanquin bearers, an elderly man beating a drum, and a representative of the ritual team to receive the oration. On return, the oration is placed in the left bay of the Đại Bái. During the ritual, a chúc văn officiant carries the oration to the central bay for the chief celebrant to read. After the ritual, the officiant carries it to the right bay of the Đại Bái and then outside to be burned. The water palanquin bearers are young men selected and assigned by the giáp. Palanquin bearers wear black the coats, white trousers, headwraps, and red belts. Members of the gong, drum, cymbal, fan, canopy, and parasol teams wear brown clothes with belts, reddish silk shirts, and white trousers with red sashes, all unmarried. With the procession are dragon and lion dance teams weaving up and down, up on the right and down on the left, organized by local people. The palanquin procession goes from the communal house to the temple; on the main procession day, a flag group leads to clear the way, followed by ten women holding bát bửu, two carrying canopies and parasols, and two young men with swords as attendants. The chief celebrant then directs the procession with the drum as a signal to go or stop. Next is the long đình palanquin carried by four young men, then the eight-tone band, the ritual team, and finally the sinh tiền dance team, a đĩ playing bồng, the lion team, and villagers escorting behind.

Offerings to the tutelary deity on the 6th of the second lunar month are prepared by the two giáp, including offerings at the communal house and at the temple. Preparation is handled by the giáp from the previous year. The family chosen as the year's cai đám for the giáp is assigned a certain amount of communal land. Offerings are vegetarian, including glutinous rice, oản, flowers, and fruit; the village stipulates weighing rice for glutinous rice with a lim-wood scale, using the required amount, and choosing large bananas; on the giã đám day, offerings are divided among the giáp to enjoy.

The village has its own ritual team of 13 members from the village giáp: 1 chief celebrant, 2 đông xướng and tây xướng, 2 chấp đăng, 4 đun đài, and 2 tả văn and hữu văn. These are healthy people aged 50 or older, with complete families, children and grandchildren, and happiness. The chief celebrant must be elderly, highly respected, trusted by all, and in good health. From the 5th to the 7th, there is one ritual session each day; on the first day, depending on whether the palanquin procession is early or late, the ritual is held in the morning or afternoon. Each session lasts about 2 hours, with three sessions; the three main sessions use wine, flowers and tea, or roses and tea. During the ritual, when wine is offered and the oration burned, music is played with lively drums and gongs. After the ritual, villagers enter the communal house in order to worship the deity.

The ritual team's costumes are plain black the coats; their hats and boots differ from the chief celebrant's. The chief celebrant wears a loose black the coat with a chest and back panel, a velvet hat embroidered with metallic thread, and velvet shoes.

On the 5th, before the main ritual, the village performs the mộc dục ceremony and cleansing of the deity's statue. This is carried out by the temple keeper and the chief celebrant. Water is mixed with five flavors, agarwood, and wine and left to cool. The cloth used is new pink silk purchased by the village.

After the mộc dục ceremony, families ask for these cloths as sacred lộc, hoping the sacred deity will bless their descendants with good health, appetite and growth, and academic success. If cloths remain unused, after the ceremony the village distributes them to members of the communal house festival board as lộc from the deity.

On the 7th, the village carries the long giá palanquin back to the sanctuary, then performs the farewell ritual and closes the communal house and temple.

The village has a sister relationship with Yên Phú Village, Liên Minh Commune, Thanh Trì District.

The remaining three villages in the commune have since ancient times jointly worshipped the same tutelary deity, so the festival includes friendly exchanges among the villages.

During village festival days, while solemn rituals to the tutelary deity take place at the communal house, at the pagoda Buddhist women also sincerely offer incense to the Buddha, busily prepare betel, brew tea for guests, and share lộc with devotees. In the pagoda yard, communal yard, and surrounding areas, folk performances are held lively and enthusiastically, such as lion dance with wrestling, boat rowing, trống quân singing with men and women singing alternating verses, catching ducks in the communal pond, burning flower trees and fireworks, playing cờ bỏi, đánh roi, chèo singing, and chầu văn singing.

On seasonal ritual days and holidays during the year, such as the thượng điền and hạ điền ceremonies, new rice ceremony, nêu-pole planting ceremony, Tết Nguyên Đán, Tết Đoan Ngọ, and Tết Trùng Thập, rituals are also held at the village communal house and temple. On the 10th of the fifth lunar month, the whole village sends three elders carrying two bundles of rice seedlings and some water spinach shoots to the designated field for the planting ceremony. The next day, village families may begin transplanting.

The traditional village festival has sacred significance and is a necessary cultural and spiritual activity. It is also a form of community bonding, entertainment and relaxation after hard working days, transmission of cultural activities, and encouragement of aesthetic creativity. The festival is being renewed to meet the demands of the times; however, we must consider what to renew and how to renew it in order to preserve the nation's cultural identity.