Historical evidence, cultural exchange
La Bong village was formed during the feudal period, around the 16th century, due to the influence of migrations from the North to the South to expand the territory. Like many other places, after clearing land, establishing hamlets, and stabilizing life, people at that time built a communal house to serve as a place for communal activities, organizing activities, and ceremonies.
According to the village elders, La Bong communal house was built at the same time as other communal houses such as Tuy Loan (Hoa Vang), Thanh Quyt (old Quang Nam ), up to now over 200 years. La Bong communal house worships the village's God (previously conferred the title of Trang Huy Duc Bao Trung Hung Thuong Dang Than), Quan Thanh, Ba Ngu Hanh and other ancestors who had contributed to the reclamation and establishment of the village.
According to Mr. Nguyen Tai, a senior of La Bong village, in the past, La Bong communal house was built on a large land of over 1 hectare in Ba Duong land (about 200m south of the current communal house location), with traditional architecture, construction materials of brick walls, lime mortar, supporting frame including rafters - columns - crossbars made of wood, roof covered with yin-yang tiles...
During the two resistance wars against France and the US, La Bong communal house was not only a place for community activities of La Bong people, but also a relic and a place marking many important local events. At the same time, this was also a place that suffered many impacts from the destruction of bombs and bullets.
After the liberation day in 1975, the communal house site was converted into rice fields for agricultural production, so the vestiges of the old communal house were lost. In 2018, La Bong communal house was rebuilt on the land formerly known as Con Cat, belonging to Ha Xu land of La Bong village, Hoa Tien commune.
Like the communal house, the Lady Temple is a spiritual and religious place, playing an important role in the spiritual life of the La Bong people. However, according to the elders of La Bong village, the Lady Temple may have been built before the La Bong communal house, because since ancient times, the worshiping rituals at the communal house always invited her to attend.
According to the memories of the elderly, the temple used to be larger than it is now, with a 3-room architecture, a back chamber, brick and lime mortar walls, an arched gate, wooden pillars, yin-yang tiled roof, and very sophisticated carvings and decorative motifs...
However, due to the devastation of war, the temple was in a state of collapse for a long time. It was not until 2002 that the temple was restored to its current location with a smaller and simpler architectural scale than before.
A special feature of Ba La Bong temple is the worship of Lady Duong Phi. Through consulting many documents of researchers in the city such as: Ho Tan Tuan, Le Xuan Thong, Dinh Thi Toan... Lady Duong Phi is a Vietnamese woman of Cham origin, who has the merit of "protecting the country, helping the people" and is worshiped a lot in the "Dang Trong" region.
According to Mr. Nguyen Truong, head of La Bong village, Ba La Bong temple is one of the typical examples demonstrating the acculturation between the two Cham - Vietnamese cultures.
Spiritual support of La Bong people
Today, La Bong villagers still preserve traditional rituals at the communal house and the Lady's temple. In particular, the worship ceremony at La Bong communal house includes the peace-praying ceremony (Thanh Minh festival) on the 16th day of the 3rd lunar month every year and the Autumn worship ceremony on the 20th day of the 8th lunar month, with the meaning of praying for national peace and prosperity, favorable weather, children's safety, and prosperity in business. The worship ceremony at the Lady's temple takes place on the 12th day of the 1st lunar month with all the traditional rituals such as reading the funeral oration, offering incense, etc.
Through many generations, the good traditional cultural values of La Bong homeland have been constantly preserved, built and promoted, like a red thread running through the length of history. These core values are the solid foundation for La Bong land in particular and Hoa Tien commune in general to change day by day, hour by hour, to rise up in the new era of the nation.
With these typical values, on June 30, 2025, the Chairman of the City People's Committee issued Decision No. 2386/QD-UBND ranking the Ba La Bong Communal House and Temple Relic Complex as a city-level historical relic. This is not only an honor and affirmation of the historical and cultural values of the relic, but also a recognition by the City People's Committee for the contributions of the government and people of Hoa Tien commune in preserving and promoting the value of national cultural heritage.
On July 14, the People's Committee of Hoa Tien Commune (Da Nang City) held a ceremony to announce the decision and receive the certificate of city-level historical relic for the Ba La Bong Temple and Communal House Relic Complex. This is the first relic in Da Nang City to hold a ceremony to receive the certificate of recognition after completing the administrative unit arrangement.
Source: https://baodanang.vn/dinh-va-mieu-ba-la-bong-noi-luu-giu-truyen-thong-dan-la-bong-3297126.html
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