Quang Dai village (Dai Loc) organizes Ky Yen festival in 2024

Quang Dai communal house. Photo: LAN NHI

With the moral of "When drinking water, remember its source", every year on the 16th day of the 6th lunar month, villagers gather at Quang Dai communal house to hold the Ky Yen ceremony to express gratitude to the ancestors who founded the village for future generations and to commemorate the heroic martyrs.

According to historical data and royal decrees of the Nguyen Dynasty, Quang Dai communal house was built during the days when this land was discovered and settled by ancestors who came to this land more than 500 years ago.

Some royal decrees are kept at Quang Dai communal house. Photo: LAN NHI

The old Quang Dai communal house was built grandly and majestically; in front of the communal house were many hundred-year-old trees that shaded the whole communal house area. In early 1908, Quang Dai communal house was the gathering place for villagers as well as people from neighboring areas to launch a movement to fight against high taxes and heavy levies imposed by French colonialists and feudal lords.

During the August Revolution of 1945, Quang Dai communal house was the first place in Dai Loc district chosen as a secret location to hide flags, slogans, political propaganda documents, and means to serve the revolution.

Offering at the Ky Yen festival of Quang Dai village in 2024. Photo: LAN NHI

During the war against the US, Quang Dai was a “red village” plowed by enemy bombs and bullets. Through the war, the village had 184 martyrs, 30 Vietnamese Heroic Mothers, hundreds of wounded soldiers and people with meritorious services to the country...

Quang Dai Communal House was severely damaged by the war. In March 1999, the communal house was restored with many items such as the temple of the tutelary god, the ancestors and descendants; the three-entrance gate; the memorial temple for heroic martyrs; Uncle Ho's statue; the mausoleum of Lady Ngoc; reading room; kindergarten; stadium... On November 24, 2023, Quang Dai Communal House was recognized as a provincial historical relic by the Provincial People's Committee.

Offering incense to commemorate martyrs at the Ky Yen ceremony in Quang Dai village. Photo: LAN NHI

The Ky Yen festival is also an occasion for Quang Dai villagers and people living far away to gather in their hometown to pray for national peace, favorable weather, and favorable production.

On this occasion, the organizers wished the elderly a long life, awarded scholarships and gifts from sponsors to people in difficult circumstances in the village.

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/lang-quang-dai-dai-loc-to-chuc-le-ky-yen-nam-2024-3138306.html