Le Son Communal House, a historical relic of Quang Binh

Le Son communal house was built on a high and flat land in Le Son village, the center of Van Hoa commune, Tuyen Hoa district, Quang Binh province. Le Son communal house is a historical, cultural and artistic relic of typical value. The communal house faces the southwest, where there is Chan Linh cave worshiping fairies and Len Bang island, the hometown of the famous Admiral Le Truc.

The formation process of Le Son Village

According to the genealogy of the clans, Le Son village was founded in 1471, during the reign of King Le Thai Tong (Dai Bao 3). Mr. Le Van Hanh was from Thanh Hoa, a student of Quoc Tu Giam, followed the path to the South, going upstream of Linh Giang to “Con Vang” (the name of Le Son in the past). Seeing that the land of “beautiful mountains and rivers” with fertile soil could be a long-term career for his descendants, he returned to Thanh Hoa, responded to the agricultural promotion edict, expanded the land to the South, wrote a petition to the king asking to go to Con Vang to start a career and was accepted by the king. At the end of 1471, during the reign of King Le Thanh Tong (Hong Duc 2), Mr. Le Van Hanh and a number of disciples went to Con Vang to open up farming and establish a village.

In May of the year of Nham Dan 1482, Le Van Hanh wrote a memorial to the king, asking the court to send Chau Quan Lang Dong Hau Nguyen Duy Tuong (from Trung Hoa – Quang Phuc – Quang Trach) to survey the land, establish a communal land register, and establish a communal name. The village name Le Son was called from then on.

To preserve and promote historical and cultural traditions and have a place to worship the ancestors, gods and the village’s tutelary god who protected and sheltered the villagers in their production and daily life, the people of Le Son contributed their efforts and money to build a majestic wooden communal house at the end of the 15th century. The communal house was built in a high, airy location that was very suitable for the feng shui theory of the ancients. Le Son communal house existed and was closely associated with the lives of Le Son people for several centuries. Around the beginning of the 19th century, a big flood swept everything away, including the communal house. The strange thing was that the communal house drifted to a flat area in the center of the village. The villagers of Le Son considered it sacred, the will of heaven and earth, of the saints, so they held a ceremony to ask the gods to rebuild the communal house at this location.

By the end of the 19th century, Le Son communal house was rebuilt on the foundation of the old communal house, with the same style as the communal houses in the North at the same time. This was a large-scale construction. The communal house became the most famous communal house in the region. The architecture of the communal house built at this time was a 5-room, 4-roof communal house, the communal house pillars were made of ironwood, surrounded by a porch, the decorative details were quite diverse, the ends of the roofs were all curved and decorated with dragons, the ends of the roofs were quite curved; the columns, beams, and rafters were all meticulously carved and meticulously threaded, the embossed images on the parts of the communal house such as columns, rafters, beams, and trusses mentioned the themes of the four sacred animals, birds, flowers, leaves, clouds, fire, rivers, water, the sun, many rich patterns and motifs, bearing the features of folk life. The panels and round doors at the altar in the front hall and the back hall were all carved very delicately. In the front hall, there are many horizontal lacquered boards, parallel sentences and many reliefs.

The special thing about Le Son communal house is the carving of dragons on the roof, which is the shape of dragons from the Le dynasty with a majestic and brave appearance in a flying position. However, the dragons in the top are in the shape of dragons from the Nguyen dynasty, looking gentler and easily recognizable by the swirls at their tails. The communal house is divided into 2 parts: the front hall and the back hall. The front hall consists of 5 compartments, the middle compartment worships Confucius, Confucian sages and those who have passed the exams. The back hall is the most solemn place, with an altar table and a throne to worship Thanh Hoang and the gods. The throne is elaborately carved, painted with red lacquer and gilded. The objects of worship in the communal house are very rich and unique. In addition to worshiping Confucius, Confucian sages, Thanh Hoang of the village and the gods, Le Son communal house also worships Duc Ong Manh Linh, Duc Ong Cau Ke, Duc Ong Mau Tai, Quan Lon Ta Phu, Tien khai khan Le Van Hanh, Mr. Tran Canh Huong, Mr. Nguyen Duy Tuong… who have made great contributions to Le Son village.

Tien Son Cave – a different experience in Phong Nha

Like other places throughout the Vietnamese countryside, the village communal house is not only a place to worship the village’s tutelary gods, deities or those who have contributed to the village, but it is also a place to organize festivals and activities of the village community. Every year, festivals held at Le Son communal house include Bau Coc festival, taking place in the beginning of the fourth lunar month, Luc Ngoai festival held on the full moon day of the sixth lunar month, Ha Dien festival in the middle of November and every two years, a ceremony to welcome the gods, carry palanquins and incense bowls from the temples of each area to the village to hold the Dai Ky Yen ceremony. When people in the village pass exams or are promoted, they all hold a ceremony to return home and pay respect to their ancestors. These festivals are especially solemn and dignified.

Not only having historical, cultural, architectural values, but Le Son communal house also witnessed many typical historical events of the village and homeland in the two long resistance wars of the nation. During the resistance war against the French colonialists, Le Son communal house was the meeting place of revolutionary organizations, the training place of the militia and self-defense forces, especially the place where large rallies of the whole commune were held to discuss plans and unify plans for the August Revolution in 1945.

During the resistance war against the US, Le Son village communal house was completely destroyed by American planes, leaving only two pillars, but the “Communal House” was still full of “spiritual energy”, the “spiritual energy” that created a Le Son in the Eight Famous Fragrances, nurturing the “tree of knowledge” of Le Son village to blossom and bear fruit as it is today. Successive generations have continuously cultivated, making that “spiritual energy” accumulate, become full, develop and flourish. And perhaps because of that “spiritual energy” that has made Le Son village in modern society, through many historical changes, still retain its ancient features: banyan tree, well, communal house yard – a traditional beauty and closeness, familiarity of the Vietnamese countryside.

Xem thêm: du lịch Bàu Sen Quảng Bình

With historical and cultural values ​​and events that took place here, in 2012, Le Son Communal House was ranked as a provincial relic according to Decision No. 3081/QD-CT dated December 14, 2012 of the People’s Committee of Quang Binh province.

Currently, with socialized capital, the government and people of Van Hoa commune have restored the majestic and spacious Le Son communal house right on the grounds of the relic.

When coming to Quang Binh, tourists can go to Le Son to visit one of the eight famous incense bowls of Quang Binh.

Photo collected