Vong Communal House

VONG COMMUNAL HOUSE

Vong Communal House, also called Ha Dinh Communal House, is currently at house number 322 Khuong Dinh Street, Khuong Dinh Ward, Hanoi City.

According to surviving documents, the founding date of Vong Communal House can be determined to the Le Trung Hung period (16th–18th centuries). It is called Vong Communal House because it was built on the northeast axis. In front of the communal house gate are two stone pillars carved with the two characters “hạ mã” (下 馬), meaning that people sitting in palanquins or carriages who wanted to pass through the communal house gate had to dismount, get out of the carriage, and walk around the semicircular pond, or go around behind the communal house.

The architectural scale of the communal house is quite large. On both sides of the square pavilion are two three-bay side corridors, simply decorated. The main hall has five bays and two lean-tos, carved with dragons and clouds, flowers and leaves. The communal house still preserves many valuable artifacts from the Le Trung Hung and Nguyen periods. Notably, there are eight royal edicts of the Nguyen court, the earliest from 1847 and the latest from 1924; an eight-carried palanquin, a system of stone steles, a bronze incense burner, and a bronze bell cast in 1882.

Vong Communal House is where King Le Chieu Tong (1516–1522), fleeing the Mac Dang Dung rebellion (in 1521), came to take temporary refuge and was welcomed by the villagers, who offered him offerings. The communal house worships two celestial deities as tutelary gods, Cuong Luoc Dai Vuong and Hung Luoc Dai Vuong, who during the reign of the 18th Hung King made many contributions helping the king fight the enemy. In addition, the communal house also jointly worships nine officials from Ha Dinh village who made many contributions to the people and the country. They are Doctors Le Dinh Du, Le Dinh Lai, Le Hoang Tuyen, Nguyen Khue; Hoang Giap Truong Thoi, Le Dinh Dien; Pho Bang Le Dinh Xan; Huong Cong Nguyen Dinh Ky and Cu Nhan Nguyen Khac Chuan.

Vong Communal House was a base for revolutionary activities and a place to send the villagers’ children off to join the army. Through many changes of history and time, the communal house had seriously deteriorated. In 1992, the villagers contributed labor and money to restore the communal house. On January 18, 1993, the people of Ha Dinh were honored to receive the certificate recognizing it as an Architectural and Artistic Relic from the Ministry of Culture and Information, and at the same time restored the organization of the Vong Communal House festival after more than 40 years of interruption.

The Vong Communal House festival is held fromthe 1st to the 4th day of the second lunar monthto commemorate and express gratitude to the village tutelary gods. On the 1st day of the second month, the communal house is opened, and the incense burner is carried in procession from the shrine to the communal house (the shrine is behind the communal house, about 300 meters away); on the main festival day (the 2nd), there is a male ceremony, incense offering, and procession of offerings. In the evening there are ca tru and quan ho singing and folk games. By the afternoon of the 4th, the incense burner is carried back to the shrine.

In 2009, on the occasion of the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long – Hanoi, Vong Communal House was invested in by Thanh Xuan District for renovation of items such as the two side corridors (left and right houses), the square pavilion, the construction of a stele house, and the building of enclosing walls.