Van Tinh Communal House

Van Tinh Communal House belongs to Van Tinh village, Xuan Canh commune. The land of Xuan Canh is one of the ancient lands of Dong Ngan district in the past, now Dong Anh district. In ancient times, Xuan Canh was a commune consisting of four villages: Xuan Dinh, Thuong Lao, Van Hoach, and Van Tinh. There is a folk verse handed down among the people about this land:

“ Van Tinh is renowned for its liquor,

Thuong Lao is graceful with its vegetables,

Xuan Dinh is bustling with fish,

Farming is the foundation of Van Hoach village.”

Although the four villages are small, each has historical and cultural relics such as communal houses, temples, and pagodas, and each bears its own distinctive features. Lying in an area dense with historical and cultural relics, together with Cua Song Temple, Van Hoach Pagoda, Xuan Canh Fort, Thuong Lao Communal House and Pagoda, and Xuan Dinh Communal House, Van Tinh Communal House has survived to this day and still preserves valuable antiquities bearing marks related to important historical periods. Van Tinh Communal House worships two tutelary deities: Cao Son Dai Vuong and Trieu Vo Hoang De (Trieu Da). The worship of Trieu Vo Hoang De (Trieu Da) as a tutelary deity is a difference compared with many relics in Dong Anh district. Cao Son is the son of Lac Long Quan and Au Co, one of the 50 children who followed their father up the mountain. Cao Son's name was Nguyen Hien, and his younger brother Nguyen Sung (also known as Quy Minh) was a general under the Hung Kings and a cousin of Son Tinh. When Thuy Tinh led troops to attack Son Tinh and the Au clan besieged and attacked the Van Lang state of Hung Vuong, Cao Son made great contributions together with Son Tinh to defeat the water invaders and protect the Van Lang state. Cao Son in this legend reflects a loyal and courageous example. Because of his service to the country, Cao Son was later worshipped as the second deity in the Tan Mountain Temple. This worship custom has been passed down through many generations, and to this day Van Tinh Communal House still maintains the worship of Cao Son Dai Vuong (Cao Hien Dai Vuong) as the village tutelary deity.

The second village tutelary deity worshipped at Van Tinh Communal House is Trieu Vo Hoang De - Trieu Da. History records: When Trieu Vo Hoang De advanced troops to punish the Western Thuc, he had soldiers stationed in the territory of Xuan Canh commune, with the Thien Duc River in front to the north. Therefore, the people built a temple at this military station. Through many dynasties, emperors granted divine titles; the earliest extant title dates to Canh Hung year 44 (1783). Through many ups and downs of history, the Van Tinh Communal House relic no longer preserves written documents recording the specific date of its founding. However, based on decorative motifs on the dau du beam ends, carvings in the artistic style of the Later Le period, and the inscription on the upper beam of the rear sanctuary, it can be inferred that Van Tinh Communal House was founded in the Later Le period and restored in the Nguyen period and later years. Van Tinh Communal House is located on a large, open plot facing west, looking out toward the Red River dike. The entire relic space is enclosed by walls. The nghi mon gate is built in the four-pillar style, facing the communal pond, with one large central gate and two small side gates connected by four pillars, two large and two small. The tien te front hall consists of three bays and two side wings, built in the bitt doc gable style with ngoi armrests and pillar supports, brick floor, and di-tiled roof; the three central bays have folding doors, and the two sides have walls with windows shaped like the character “tho”. The tien te hall is structured with four rows of columns and four roof-supporting trusses. The two central trusses use the thuong gia chieng, chong ruong, trung chong con, and ha ke methods. The two side trusses use the thuong gia chieng, trung chong ruong, and ha ke methods. The architecture is decorated with interlaced Later Le and Nguyen motifs. The dau du beam ends are carved with dragons in the artistic style of the 18th century; on the beams and ke, there are carvings of clouds, waves, water, and leaves. The corner panels depict the four sacred animals and four seasons. The trung duong central hall is a three-bay, two-wing house built in the bitt doc gable style, with four rows of columns; the structure and decoration on the trusses are simple. On the first beam is a line of Han characters recording that the communal house was repaired in the 16th year of Thanh Thai (1904).

The trung duong is a three-bay, two-wing house built in the bitt doc gable style, with four rows of columns; the structure and decoration on the trusses are simple. The rear sanctuary has one bay running lengthwise and has just been restored, giving the communal house a ground plan in the shape of the character “one”, and the rear in the shape of the character “đinh” like the ancient communal house of the past. Below, a platform is built to display worship objects. Van Tinh Communal House still preserves the ancient architecture of the Le - Nguyen periods. Although it has been repaired many times, the communal house still retains its traditional architectural style. The carved panels on the architecture demonstrate the skill of the artisans. Each carved panel has its own theme, such as: unicorn transforming, phoenix holding a book, chrysanthemum transforming into a dragon, clouds forming waves, four sacred animals, four seasons, and dragons flanking. The decorations on the communal house's architecture serve scientific research in preserving, conserving, and promoting the traditional cultural values of the country. With its ancient architecture and moderate scale, the communal house is one of the artistic works contributing to making the village landscape more beautiful. Over a long period of existence, the Van Tinh Communal House relic has also preserved a system of relics and antiquities diverse in type, numerous in quantity, and rich in materials such as wood, bronze, porcelain, and paper. Wooden relics account for the majority. The relics are mainly dated to the Nguyen dynasty. In particular, the artistic carvings on the corner panels, beams, eave brackets, and dau du depict folk themes; the wooden carvings here have unique features of the communal house, such as the four sacred animals panel in the rear corner panel of the central bay of the front hall, carved with four sacred animals hidden in clouds, with a very charming unicorn head in the center, different from the image of the unicorn in the corner panels of other communal houses. The dau du clearly depict dragons with Later Le-style halberds; the eave bracket system depicts the four sacred animals and four seasons in a rustic yet polished manner, making the carvings vivid.

The annual traditional festival at Van Tinh Communal House is held on the 7th day of the third lunar month to recall the historical tradition of our ancestors in the early days of nation-building and national defense. During the festival, rituals, tuong singing, flag-waving dances, and folk games are usually organized. The festival expresses the solidarity of the village community and attracts a large number of local people to participate. According to the village elders, the village's traditional festival was formerly held over three days, from the 6th to the 8th day of the third lunar month. The people organized a procession of the bat cong palanquin around the village, then brought the palanquin back to the communal house to perform rituals. On the 1st day of the eighth lunar month, the day of the tutelary deity's transformation, they offer hoang wine, because according to ancient legend, Emperor Trieu Vu lived to be 120 years old and, being toothless, could not eat much and only ate porridge and drank wine, so porridge and hoang wine must be offered. The villagers taboo reading the sacred name and pronounce Da as Do. Today the traditional festival at the relic is held solemnly, healthily, and economically but still includes all the rituals of a traditional festival and carries the distinctive nuances of the region. Van Tinh Communal House was ranked as a City-level Architectural and Artistic Relic under Decision No. 6473/QD-UBND dated December 5, 2014.