Nghi Tam communal house

Nghi Tam communal house is located in group 4 of Quang An ward, Tay Ho district, in front is Thang Loi hotel, on the right is West lake, a feng shui sacred landscape with beautiful scenery.
Nghi Tam is an ancient land that has existed for a long time, formerly Tam Tang camp, Ly Than Tong (1128-1138) built Tu Hoa palace for princess Tu Hoa to come and teach maid to raise silkworm. In the Tran dynasty (1275-1400), the tomb of Tich Ma ward was changed to Nghi Tam - one of the most famous wards of Thang Long with the mulberry cultivation, silkworm rearing and silk weaving, planting bonsai and raising birds. Nghi Tam located on the West Lake has beautiful poetic scene, Lord Trinh Giang (1729-1740) was fascinated by the beautiful scenery of Nghi Tam to build the palace on the edge of Nghi Tam gold bamboo - one of the eight beautiful scenery of West Lake that's it. Nghi Tam also has the famous Kim Lien Pagoda as a golden lotus blossoming on the water of the romantic West Lake. This is also the home of Ba Huyen Thanh Quan - a poetess in the early 19th century with many famous poem: Qua Deo Ngang, Thang Long hoai co, Tran Bac Pagoda ....
Nghi Tam has a great history of setting up villages and a long tradition of culture. There are also many historical monuments that record the progress of village history and spiritual activities of the locality. Nghi Tam communal house is a cultural highlight and a place to convey the beliefs and aspirations of the people in the region. The communal house was built to worship the princes of the village to protect the peaceful life of the people.
According to the spirit and layout in the worship of the six gods in Nghi Tam communal house:
1. Minh Khiet Dai Vuong.
2. Bao Trung Dai Vuong.
3. Trieu Dinh Dai Vuong.
4. West Lake water God spirit.
5. Lo Quoc Thai Su god.
6. Quynh Hoa Doan Trang Princess.
According to the documents still kept in the communal house, the three gods: Minh Khiet Duc Thanh, Trieu Dinh Phu Quoc, Bao Trung Cuong Doan are all the West Lake water gods. In the Ly Thai Tong’s reign, the king remarked that he was going far away for hunting at Dam Dam. One day, there was heavy rain, so the king had to stay temporarily in the ancient shrine in the hamlet (Nghi Tam village today). Seeing these, old people and the people in the village immediately brought special food to offer to the king. Seeing the ruined communal house, the king then talked with elders and gave them money to remodel.
After the king died, touched by the merits of him, every year, the villagers celebrated his memorial. A few years later, when the people performed the ceremony, the eldest man dreamed that the king had come to the point clearly and said: Three water gods are the name of the West Lake from which the people still worship, and are responsive. Throughout the dynasties, the gods were given the title: "The supreme Gods".
The fourth god who is worshiped in the communal house is Hoang Hiep Tay Ho water god is also the god of West Lake. However, according to the ordinance, this god was worshiped from the mid-19th century in Nghi Tam. The earliest scroll is from the sixth year of Tu Duc (1853), and the three gods of Trieu Dinh, Minh Khiet and Bao Trung were worshiped there for a long time. According to the recitation, the merits and attributes of this deity are similar to the three.
The fifth god worshiped in the communal house is Lo Quoc Thai Su. According to the elderly in the village said: he belonged to the Sy family, came from the Lo nation. He left the country in the Han Dynasty, the reign of Emperor Ping. He came to this hamlet as a residence and taught here, he taught and forged many talented students. By the time of the Hai Ba Trung’s insurrection, he went to the North, the villagers commemorated the merit of him so they made a temple as his school to worship.
From then on the place became more and more mystical, the dynasties worshiped him as "Lo Quoc Thai Su" and was worshiped with the great king in the village.
The sixth god worshiped in the communal house is Princess Quynh Hoa Doan Trang: In the reign of King Le Thanh Tong in Ha Nam province, there was Tran Vi, who after retired, went to his home to open a school teaching in the village Nghi Tam in the capital of Thang Long. He and his wife usually do good things and go to the communal house to pray. They are over 50 years old but have no children. One beautiful day, after he finished his teaching, he sat next to West Lake. While he was sleeping, he found himself lost in the heavenly realm, some people took into view the court of God. That day it was desirable to bring a person to the lower world, a mandarin said: Lieu Hanh is there but she is outside, the capital is missing one person. Jade Emperor promptly for the princess Quynh Hoa was reincarnated in the Tran Vi and delivered his princess. It was not long after Mrs. Tran gave birth to a daughter, Tran Vi saw his child look like the fairy in the dream and named his daughter Quynh Hoa. Growing up, Quynh Hoa was a glorious beauty, the two led her marriage to Lieu Nghi - a child of their close friend. Lieu Nghi was very good at studying and passing the doctorate, being considered as the head of Ha Trung (Thanh Hoa). At that time, Chiem Thanh invaders planning to take Thang Long, Lieu Nghi were sent to the army. Quynh Hoa also disguise as the young male cadre member to bring soldiers and servants to the husband. After winning, Lieu Nghi was conferred as Do Dai Ngu Su, the whole family went to Thang Long.
When Lieu Nghi died, Quynh Hoa asked the king to let her return to Nghi Tam. In addition to poetry, she was also skilled in silkworm mulberry cultivation. She popularized the silkworm cultivation for everyone. People in the area thanks to her that know how to raise the silkworm. Later she became the god of the village and was worshiped as silkworm princesses. There are 60 villages worshiping her.
At present, Nghi Tam communal house still preserves traditional folk-cultural festivals. Every year, the villagers organize the village festival on the 10th of February. On the day of the festival, the villagers bring 6 palanquins to Kim Lien Pagoda and return to the village. There are many folk games in the festival.
Nghi Tam communal house is located on a landmark near West Lake, in front of Thang Loi Hotel. According to the elderly in the relics, the previous communal house has a beautiful architectural scale of five rooms and 3 harems, with two sides all made of ironwood. The pillars are so big that people are not able to hug one, pillars and steps are made of beautiful green stone. Nghi Tam communal house consists of five large rooms and three harems.
Main temple is the center of the monument built on a height of about 40 cm above the surface. The whole communal house consists of five compartments, two roofs, roofed with two layers of tile. The communal house has 06 rows of columns placed on the system of rock legs with diameter from 47 cm to 54 cm. The decorations on the set mainly focused on the paintings, the head and the upper end mainly presented the image of dragons, four spirit animals, and four merits.
The harem of the communal house is connected to the middle of the communal house back to with simple architecture where it is mostly smooth plan. In the center of the archaeological site of worship, inside it is the tablet of the village god on the royal throne, in front of the throne placed the items: hat, shoes and clothes of the god. The throne here is different: two dragons in the thrones are turned face to face in the form of a bow. Before the throne placed the worshiping objects as the post-Le flavor of the Chrysanthemum flower decorations, two small statues of servants are about 40 cm tall.
Especially in Nghi Tam communal house, there are many kinds of relics, rich in types and materials such as stone tablet, scroll, bronze bell, shrine, hammock, horizontal parallel sentences which have aesthetic value. Among them are the 32 original scrolls for the god of the village from the Tay Son era. Probably in the relics of Hanoi, there are not many monuments still retain the volume of giants such as Nghi Tam; These relics are a valuable source of valuable information contributing to the understanding of the background of the gods in the power system of the Vietnamese as well as the development of the communal house of Vietnam through the different historical periods of the nation.
Along with it, Nghi Tam also preserved five stone tablets, including four tablets of the four sides of the Le period that were crafted artfully and meticulously that brought the art of writing tablet here up to the peak shown. The shape of the flowers, leaf, water wave, chrysanthemum, dragon, carp, etc. were ancient carvings engraved in a delicate, polished and extremely vibrant with sharp touches. The wooden relics of the communal house are also extremely rich, displayed on the door, throne, palanquin, incense, lacquer, sentences, etc. are touched, with many decorated decorations like dragon, phoenix, and flower, etc. with the style of art from Nguyen dynasty.
Apart from historical and artistic values, Nghi Tam communal house is also a gathering place for cultural and spiritual activities of the villagers. This expresses gratitude to the ancestors and at the same time educates people on the love of their homeland, the spiritual country which helps each other in their daily lives.
The communal house has been classified by the Hanoi People's Committee as a historical architectural art in Decision No. 1189 / QD-UB dated 07/02/2002.