Unique custom of worshipping tutelary god at Lam communal house

Lam Communal House (Lam residential group, Tan Thanh town, Thanh Liem district) is located in the East of the residential group, facing the Southeast overlooking the open fields, on the land of "left Thanh Long, right Bach Ho". To the East of the communal house, Kinh Thuy River originates from Bau Cuu lake, winding through the front of the communal house, to the West of the communal house are Hang mountain, Thap mountain; to the North are Coi mountain, Do mountain. According to the sources of documents currently preserved at the relic and the Provincial Museum as well as through the stories of local elders, Lam residential group worships 5 gods including: 3 gods worshiped at the communal house are Duc Binh Thien Dai Vuong; Hong Mai Princess; Duc Ban Canh and 2 gods worshiped at the temple are Son Tinh Princess (Cua Hang temple), Bach Hoa Princess (Cua Chua temple). These are all gods who contributed to the people and the country in the early period of nation building.

Lam Communal House was built on a large scale, imposing with a flat layout in the shape of the Chinese character Nhi, consisting of 2 buildings with 8 compartments. Although it has undergone many renovations, the current architectural work still retains the traditional style of the nation. The Communal House also preserves many valuable worship objects and artifacts, dating back hundreds of years, contributing to enhancing the value of the relic. Not only possessing material values, the intangible cultural features here are also very rich and diverse, with high value for research on the spiritual and cultural life of the region. That is clearly shown in the Lam Communal House festival and the custom of worshiping the village's tutelary gods.

Unique custom of worshipping tutelary god at Lam communal house — ***The place where the tomb of King Binh Thien is located.*** Photo: Binh Chu

Every year, the communal house organizes many festivals according to the lunar calendar of the year. However, there are three festivals that the villagers pay special attention to: the festival on January 4th, the birthday of the two princesses; the festival on March 2nd, the death anniversary of Binh Thien Dai Vuong; and the festival on June 24th, the death anniversary of Hong Mai Cong Chua. According to village customs, the death anniversaries of the three village gods are held very solemnly. The offerings in each festival are basically the same. In each festival, two types of offerings must be prepared: Trai ban and Diem ban, arranged according to the principle of "Thuong trai ban, ha diem ban". Vegetarian offerings called "trai ban" are used to offer to the tutelary god in the harem, while salty offerings called "diem ban" will be placed on the communal balcony. During the January festival, the Trai ban offerings include pickled taro and water chestnut sweet soup.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Tho, Party Cell Secretary, Head of the Front Work Committee of Lam residential group, said: According to the rules, the village used to set aside 5 mau, 5 sao of public fields called the sacred fields to cultivate for annual profits to serve the annual incense offering and use for the ceremony. If there was a shortage, the village elders would contribute more, and if there was a surplus, they would save it to repair the temple. Every year, the village would take turns electing a person over 40 years old, requiring the family to have enough boys and girls to be the "head of the family" to take care of the worship and prepare the offerings. The salty offerings were relatively common like other festivals in the region, but with the vegetarian dishes in addition to sticky rice, cakes, fruits, etc., the people here also prepared a very special dish, which was pickled vegetables from the water taro plant. Water taro is grown all year round and is very popular in the region. It is very itchy, so when used to pickle and offer to the saints, the following requirements are required: the taro must be grown on public land, the taro must be 1.5 to 2 months old and can only be harvested at the beginning of the year to be eaten. The taro brought back will be peeled, split lengthwise with a small steel wire stretched over a wooden fork, then dried until it is pale. When the taro is pale, cut into pieces and put into a ceramic jar, pour in water, add salt to taste and crushed galangal, then press it with a bamboo fence. After about 5 to 7 days, when the taro has a yellowish color, has a slightly sour taste, is chewy and crunchy, it meets the requirements to be offered to the saints. In addition to the above pickled dish, the main dish in the table is taro sweet soup. According to village custom, 2 sao of pond are set aside to release taro plants and taro sweet soup can only be used from this pond to offer to the saints. Taro plants are usually released in June every year, and will be harvested in December. Because the water chestnuts have thorns, harvesting is quite careful. People have to sit on a boat and skillfully lift the water chestnuts up and pick the tubers (fruits). Some people are afraid of being pricked by the thorns, so they use a banana tree trunk to strongly push the water chestnuts into the banana tree trunk and then pick each tuber. The harvested water chestnuts are soaked in water to wash away the mud and dirt, then carefully selected and dried one by one.

According to the elders, delicious water chestnuts are medium sized, have a dry skin and a slightly rough surface. When picked up, they feel firm and do not make a sound when shaken. These are water chestnuts with a very sweet and cool taste. After selecting the water chestnuts, they will be put in a pot and boiled for about half an hour. To keep the water chestnuts sweet, people only pour enough water, not too full, and add a little salt to enhance the flavor. When the water chestnuts are cooked, peel off the hard outer shell, take the inside and grind it into a soft dough. When the dough is soft, add honey in the ratio of one spoon of honey to four spoons of water chestnuts, put them in the pot, pour water to the same level and cook over low heat. During the cooking process, stir constantly so that the sweet soup does not stick to the pot. Boil for about 15 minutes until the sweet soup thickens. The cooked sweet soup will be divided into bowls, wait for it to cool, and offer it to the gods.

During the New Year festival, the village also organizes the hoe hunting custom in the early morning of the 4th day with the wish to drive away bad luck so that the village can have a favorable year. The strong village men participating in the hunt spread a large net close to the ground in the village field. When the gongs and drums in the communal house sound, and the trays, pots, baskets, and trays in the village... are beaten loudly, the hoe chasing festival begins. They bring sticks and sticks to find hoes in the bamboo banks and bushes, then line up horizontally to gather the hoes into the spread net. This annual custom is only symbolic because it may catch hoes or not. The hoe hunting custom at the beginning of the year is a unique folk culture of a rural area, expressing the wishes of farmers for a new year of a prosperous and happy life.

The annual festivals at Lam communal house attract a large number of villagers as well as visitors from all over the country. This is a traditional cultural feature that has been maintained for a long time here. The content of the festivals reflects a rich and diverse spiritual life because the tutelary gods and holy mothers are honored in the most solemn and serious way during the festival. With unique tangible and intangible values, Lam communal house is being profiled by a specialized agency to propose to the Council for reviewing the profile to be ranked as a provincial-level architectural, artistic and historical relic, creating a legal basis for the locality to preserve and promote the value of the relic better and better.

Chu Binh

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