Xuan Trach Communal House

The Xuan Canh Communal House relic was built quite long ago. Through the system of royal edicts still preserved, there is an early-dated edict from the 4th year of Canh Hung (1743), artifacts in the style of the 18th century, etc.; we can conclude that the relic was built around before 1743. The communal house has undergone many restorations, most recently in 2017–2018, when the main hall was repaired; phase 2 will restore the two side halls, the gate, the courtyard and garden, and the communal pond. Xuan Canh Communal House, also called Thuong Lao Communal House, is a place of worship for the deity Cao Son Dai Vuong, but this Cao Son is not the brother or cousin of Saint Tan Vien Son. According to the declaration of the deity’s legend and edict by the officials of Xuan Canh Commune in 1938, the deity’s title is Van Truong (Van Trang), a native of Bao Linh Village, Guangxi Province. His mother dreamed of swallowing the Vu Khuc star and became pregnant, then gave birth to the deity. In part, he served as a high official of the Song dynasty, came to our country and stayed in Vietnam; when Thuong Lao was still a settlement, he opened a class teaching writing to local children for three years. When King Ly Nhan Tong opened the imperial examination, he went to take it and passed as a doctoral laureate (?). When the Liao invaders violated our country’s borders, he led troops on patrols in various places and established fortifications at Thuong Lao to resist the enemy. The people of the settlement asked to become his subjects. He granted the settlement people ten measures of gold to buy fields and ponds as a place for later worship. After that, he led troops to defeat the Liao invaders, and the country was peaceful. He was granted a fief in Kinh Bac. On the way back to his fief, when he reached Tieu Son Mountain (now in Tu Son Town), he looked up at the sky, saw a yellow cloud descend, and spontaneously manifested. That day was the 12th day of the ninth lunar month. The settlement people reported it to the court. The court allowed the people to establish a temple for worship, and all dynasties issued edicts.

Besides Cao Son Dai Vuong, Xuan Canh Communal House also jointly worships two human deities, Tap Bo Dai Vuong and Thanh Kieu Dai Vuong. Both merited in accompanying the king in campaigns to help the Ly king quell invaders, but their legends have been lost. Since 1962, the communal house has also received the tablet and incense bowl of the village tutelary deity of Van Hoach Village, because that village’s communal house was burned by the French in 1946. Currently, Xuan Canh Communal House still preserves two edicts of the deities of Van Hoach Communal House dated the 3rd year of Duy Tan (1909) and the 9th year of Khai Dinh (1924). Xuan Canh Communal House includes a three-entrance gate, communal courtyard, left and right side halls, and the main hall. The gate is built in the four-pillar style, opening three entrances to the communal house. The two rows of left and right side halls have simple architecture of the closed gable wall type. Each row consists of three bays and two lean-tos, with trusses structured in the stacked purlin style, smooth planing, and kẻ soi. The roof is tiled with Vietnamese tiles, and the floor is paved with old Bat Trang bricks. The main hall is 3 bays with 2 wide side bays, with four curved roofs creating a light, soaring feeling for the architecture. The central bay serves as the place of worship, while the side bays have raised foundations for village meetings. The structural frame has 6 rows of columns and 6 lim-wood trusses. The rear sanctuary is a three-bay longitudinal house attached to the central bay of the main hall. In the middle of the rear sanctuary is a worship niche, inside which are arranged two sets of dragon thrones and tablets for worshipping the village tutelary deities. The main part of the communal house is the main hall, consisting of 5 bays and 2 lean-tos, with a four-roof style, creating a light, elegant, soaring feeling. The trusses are made in the style “upper gong frame, lower shifting purlin”. Each truss has a ground plan structured in six rows of columns. The structure of the trusses consists mainly of supporting posts, connected by longitudinal beams below and purlins above to form a solid column frame supporting the entire load of the communal house roof.

Architectural decoration and sculpture at the communal house show art expressed richly in themes, diverse in content, and mostly in the artistic style of the 18th–19th centuries.

The highlight of the communal house’s architecture is the meticulous, elaborate carved panels, with the main theme being dragon images. The decorative panels are concentrated mainly on the corbels, beam ends, kẻ, bẩy, and some decorative motifs on beam heads, truss members, etc. But the most beautiful is the decorative art on the two corbel panels of the central bay of the main hall. On these panels, the main decorative theme is a dragon curling in water. Beside the dragon carvings are phoenix dancing motifs with wings spread in flight. “Dragon Horse bearing the River Chart” its head and body are depicted as a dragon, with four legs drawn up in a galloping posture. The image “Sacred Turtle bearing the Luo Shu” swimming in a pond, together with motifs of water waves, scroll patterns, spear-shaped patterns, etc. Especially rare to find preserved elsewhere is the carving on the stacked beam bodies of the side bay of the communal house, depicting a vivid picture of a dragon curling in water. There, the full imagery of clouds, rain, thunder and lightning, water waves, a dragon appearing and disappearing, and curling water is shown. Also on the beam bodies of the side bay are carved two young unicorns in a leisurely, innocent posture as if watching the dragon curling in water... The beam ends depict dragons in a straight-looking posture, mouths holding pearls, and spear-shaped patterns in the catfish-whisker style, a type of carving in the artistic style of the 19th century.

The relics preserved at the site are of many types and materials. Some typical relics include: the deity’s legend; royal edicts dated the 4th year of Canh Hung (1743), the 10th year of Tu Duc (1857) and the 33rd year of Tu Duc (1880), and the 2nd year of Khai Dinh (1917); two stone phong statues, 22 cm high, carved in a kneeling posture, quite amusing, with rugged facial features, hands clasped before the chest, bulging belly, kneeling and sitting, yet still light and graceful, bearing the artistic characteristics of the 18th century; 1 worship niche; 02 thrones and tablets carved with dragons facing, four sacred creatures, and floral scrolls; 01 set of eight treasures (8 pieces) in openwork carving; 01 set of decorative van offerings “Dragon Horse River Chart” in the artistic style of the 19th century.

Annually, on the spring and autumn occasions, on the 8th day of the third lunar month (the deity’s birthday) and the 13th day of the eighth lunar month (the deity’s transformation day), the people of Xuan Canh Village organize a festival; the festival is traditional and imbued with national identity, with rituals expressing respect and gratitude to the village tutelary deity. The water procession is held early in the morning. Items used in the procession include water jars, palanquins, canopies, eight treasures, weapons, incense tables, and various flags and parasols. The procession goes from the junction of the Red River to the communal house for worship. In addition to the rituals, there are many folk games. Formerly there was phoenix firecracker throwing: three paper-and-bamboo phoenixes were hung on a tall bamboo pole, and participants in the game lit firecrackers and threw them up; if a phoenix caught fire, they won the prize. This game existed only in Xuan Canh and has now fallen into decline.

Xuan Canh Communal House is an early-established relic; its existence for several hundred years affirms the important role of the communal house in the spiritual life of local people.