Hai Duong: O Me Village Communal House - Hung Dao

O Me (commonly known as Mu village) is a village of Hung Dao commune (Tu Ky). In the early 19th century, O Me was a commune of My Xa commune, Tu Ky district, Ninh Giang prefecture, Hai Duong town. After the August Revolution in 1945, O Me commune was converted into a village, merged with Lac Duc and Xuan Neo villages to form Hung Dao commune. Since ancient times, this land has had many historical and cultural relics, but over time and war, most of the structures are no longer preserved. Today, local people have restored and embellished many valuable relics as places to worship Thanh Hoang and practice religious beliefs, including O Me communal house. The communal house was ranked as a provincial relic in 2011.

Legend of the village guardian spirit

The legends and folklore clearly state that during the pre-Ly period (6th century), in An Vinh village, Binh Duong district, there was a noble family named Nguyen, whose given name was Thuc, who married a local woman named Tran Thi Lien. The couple were kind and always helped the poor. At the age of 36, unfortunately, Lien Nuong died early. Thuc Cong was very sad and immediately traveled around the world. One day, Thuc Cong came to O Me village and saw that the villagers were honest and kind, so he asked to stay and start a business. In the village, there was a kind old woman who loved Thuc Cong like her own child. She had a virtuous daughter named Mai Nuong. Thuc Cong fell in love with her and married her. However, the couple had been married for a long time but had not yet had a child, so they went to a sacred temple to pray for a child. After a while, Mai Nuong became pregnant, and at the hour of Mao, on February 12, she gave birth to a handsome boy, and named him Cong Quang. When Cong Quang was 13 years old, he was already proficient in martial arts and literature. At this time, the Liang invaders came to invade, the king summoned talented people to lead the army to fight. Cong Quang asked to lead the army to battle. Fighting bravely, with intelligence and talent, Cong Quang achieved many feats, was awarded a title, 200 quan of money and silk and brocade by the king. Cong Quang thanked the king, then asked the king to return to his hometown to visit the ancestral temple. That day was September 23, the villagers and elders came out in large numbers to welcome him. Quang Cong held a banquet to invite the elders and villagers to enjoy the benefits, then went to pay respect to the ancestral temple, then saw a black cloud in the sky, the sky and earth suddenly darkened, wind and rain rose violently and landed right where Cong Quang was standing, Cong Quang naturally lay down and died right there. That place was commonly called Ma Lang. A moment later, the sky cleared up again, the wind and rain both stopped, the people came out to see and only saw Cong Quang lying there, his hat and clothes neat, his face red as the sun. The people were surprised and sent a petition to the court. The king was extremely sad and immediately ordered his courtiers to perform the funeral ceremony.

In recognition of Cong Quang's merits, the king granted him a title and allowed the people of the village to build a communal house to worship him; recognized O Me village as the main place to raise Cong Quang while he was alive and where he passed away, and honored him as the village's tutelary god. The king also granted the people 500 quan of money, exempted them from military service for 6 years, and bestowed the title "Hien huu, uy linh, tu quang trung dang phuc than Dai vuong" - (The Great King of the middle class, benevolent, glorious, majestic, sacred, and clearly shows his help).

People remember

According to tradition, O Me communal house was built quite early, restored during the Nguyen Dynasty, on a large scale, with a J-shaped architecture including 7 main worship rooms and 3 rear rooms, made of sturdy ironwood. In front of the communal house, there are two rows of altars, each row has 5 rooms, with altars for the descendants who contributed to building welfare works for the village. In 1946, the communal house was the place to elect the first-term People's Council delegates and National Assembly delegates. In 1949, the communal house was the venue for holding rallies calling on all people to rise up to resist the French colonialists. In 1951, the entire communal house was destroyed by bombs and mines of the French colonialists when they swept into the village. In 2007, according to the wishes of the local government and people, O Me communal house was rebuilt on the old foundation, with a J-shaped architecture, mainly made of reinforced concrete, meeting the needs of religious activities.

From the outside, O Me communal house is quite impressive. The main worship house has 5 rooms built with angled roof tiles, the rear shrine has 1 room built with a gable. The roof ridge is embossed with the theme of two dragons facing the sun. The dragon's head is fierce, its beard extending forward. The main rafters are built in the style of overlapping beams and gongs, the decorative motifs are painted with the traditional theme of leaves turning over, leaves turning into dragons.

Having gone through many historical events, O Me communal house still retains many precious artifacts. The legend of Thanh Hoang has become the pride of the local people. Currently, in the communal house, there are still the altar, statues of Thanh Hoang's father and mother, a palanquin set, a dragon pavilion, and ceramic incense burners dating from the Nguyen Dynasty.

To commemorate the merits of Nguyen Cong Quang, the O Me Communal House Festival is solemnly held every year. Under the feudal period, there were two main festivals at the communal house: the January festival and the November blessing festival (lunar calendar). Of these two festivals, the November festival is held on a larger scale, taking place for 5 days from the 8th to the 13th, attracting a large number of people in the area to participate in solemn sacrificial rituals and processions. Starting from the morning of November 8, villagers prepare, wrap the worshiping objects, clean the village road from the communal house to the temple to be bright and clean. After that, a palanquin is organized to the house of the head of the village to receive the funeral oration. On November 9, the palanquin is carried from the communal house to the temple (where Cong Quang is worshiped) to perform the ceremony and then return to the communal house to worship. Those attending the ceremony must bathe, wear clean clothes and be vegetarian. Offerings include sticky rice, chicken, pork, wine, and fruit. On November 10, the groups carry the worshiping pigs to the communal house to pay homage to the village guardian spirit. After the ceremony, the village judges the worshiping pigs by eye, the pigs are approximately equal, no distinction is made between better and worse, the village must use a weight scale, if the weight is over 100kg, a bottle of wine with the word "foot" must be attached to the weight to determine the standard. After the judging, the chief judge announces the results, the pig that wins first place will be rewarded by the village to cultivate one sao of rice field in the best field. After that, the groups carry the pigs home until the morning of November 11 to slaughter them. On November 11, a ceremony is held. On November 12, a procession is held from the communal house to the temple. On November 13, a thanksgiving ceremony ends the festival.

During the festival days, many folk games are organized such as wrestling, chess, cockfighting, tug of war, and in the evening there are Cheo and Tuong singing... Nowadays, the custom of carrying a worshiping pig is still maintained by the villagers of O Me during traditional festivals. This is a beautiful feature that not every countryside can preserve.

The restored O Me Communal House has met the cultural and religious needs of the people. Currently, the People's Committee of Hung Dao Commune has a project to develop the relic; renovate, embellish and expand the temple grounds, restore the Ma Lang area (where Nguyen Cong Quang died and has his grave), and gradually restore the traditional festival to preserve and promote the value of the relic in the future.