My Thanh Communal House (Cam Thinh Dong Commune, Cam Ranh, Khanh Hoa Province) has just been recognized as a provincial-level art architectural relic.
My Thanh Communal House (located in Cam Thinh Dong Commune, Cam Ranh, Khanh Hoa Province) has just been recognized as a provincial-level art architectural relic.
According to Vo Van Lich, head of the sacrificing board of My Thanh Communal House, the My Thanh Hamlet has about 500 households with more than 1,500 residents. My Thanh Communal House is the place where many spiritual activities take place; therefore, the event that the communal house was recognized as a provincial-level art architectural relic means a lot to the locals. It helps the young generation to know more about the source and to give more respect and love to the cultural and spiritual values of the villages.
Basing on the imperial decrees saved at the communal house, it's believed that this communal house was built in early 19th century. The communal house whose first name was An My was built of thatch and bamboo. After many times of moving and name-changing, the communal house was finally moved to My Thanh Hamlet in the end 1940s.
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| Sacrificing board of My Thanh Communal House carrying out a ceremony. |
In 1971, the communal house was re-built of brick and tile. After that, the locals also built new shrines worshipping Tien hien, Than nong and Bach Ho.
Like other traditional communal houses, My Thanh Communal House has a simple architecture with four pillars made of bricks and mortar.
At present, the locals still maintain many antiquities and relics at My Thanh Communal House, such as panels of parallel sentences, thuribles, gongs, drums and book written in Han script (ancient Chinese characters) and Nom script (a demotic script or ancient Vietnamese script). Besides, there are seven imperial decrees conferred in the time of Tu Duc King, Duy Tan King, Dong Khanh King and Khai Dinh King, allowing the locals to continue to worship the Gods at the communal houses and shrines.
Every year, the locals organize the spring worshipping ceremony at My Thanh Communal House on the 9th and 10th day of the third lunar month. In addition, there is a biennial festival held from the 9th day to the 12th day of the third lunar year.
According to Phan Thi Thanh Thao, head of Cam Ranh City’s Bureau of Culture and Information, My Thanh Communal House is an evidence showing the rise and fall of My Thanh Hamlet in particular and Cam Thinh Dong Commune in general. Its architecture bears the manner of the traditional communal houses in Khanh Hoa Province. My Thanh Communal House is a place where many traditional festivals have been often organized to commemorate the founders of the villages.
H.N
