"The Royal Palace of History and National Security".
According to feng shui, the communal house is built on the head of a dragon facing the southwest, the two dragon eyes are two wells at the Dong gate and the Tay hamlet gate, which are open spaces, not obstructed by the sun. This is the best land in terms of the "five elements", bringing prosperity and wealth. Around the village, there are 10 mounds of "tien tam thai, hau that dieu", symbolizing 10 magic lamps shining on the communal house and on every house in the village.
The communal house was built completely, both the masonry and the carpentry are imbued with the architectural carvings of the Le Dynasty. The communal house has no floor, from the upper communal house to the lower communal house to the three-door gate, the width of the middle room is straight and equal, the floor is 15 centimeters lower than the left and right rooms. The lower communal house platform and the three-door gate are paved with green stone, with three steps. On both sides of the back are the left and right porches. On both sides of the inner communal house yard are the left and right porches. In front of the communal house is the three-door gate roof, on the door of the middle room are four large characters "Thanh cung van tue". On the right side of the three-door gate is a stone stele recording the history of the communal house (the stele no longer exists). In front and behind the south of the communal house are two ancient banyan trees estimated to be thousands of years old, standing on the Tu Son railway line you can see the banyan tree of Lo Khe communal house (no longer exists). Next to the banyan tree in front of the communal house is a large stone dog statue, with a bell around its neck, looking up to the southwest. It is said that the dog is imbued with a metal talisman that gives the dog statue its soul and boundless power to "suppress" and eliminate all evil spirits and monsters, preventing them from invading the village temple, keeping the village prosperous and peaceful. Behind the temple are five inscriptions, one of which is dedicated to Confucius. Outside the wall behind the temple is a bow (often called the throne arm). To the west of the temple are an inkstone and a brush, which were treasures given to the village by the saint. The inkstone and brush are still there today. The Saint left behind the inkstone and said: "If the inkstone and brush are lost, the descendants of the village will be ignorant."
Currently, there are no Han Nom documents left in the communal house about the process of building the communal house with bricks and tiles. According to the elders in the village, in the year of Ky Ty under the reign of King Tu Duc (1869), the royal army came to the village to suppress the Thao Khau bandits.
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On September 21, the communal house was burned down. The villagers raised money to rebuild the communal house and organized a procession for the gods to temporarily reside at the foot of the Cau Bai banyan tree, the foot of the Mach banyan tree, the foot of the banyan tree at the camp gate and the foot of the banyan tree along the Nguyet Giang river temple (Yen Phong district). In the year of Mau Ngo under King Khai Dinh (1918), the communal house was renovated, restored and the gate was widened according to the carvings of the Le dynasty. In the year of Tan Ty under King Bao Dai (1941), the well of the communal house was widened.
The communal house was formerly structured in the letter “Nhi”, including the Front Hall and the Great Hall, each with five rooms. Connecting the Front Hall are the Left and Right Halls. On both sides of the Back Palace are the Left and Right Kitchens. The Great Hall has no floor but is paved with green stone, higher than the communal house steps.
Lo Khe communal house, along with three communal houses Ha Vi, Ha Lo, and Ha Huong in Lien Ha commune, have been ranked as national historical and cultural relics.
It can be said that there are few communal houses that have recorded as many historical and cultural vestiges as the Lo Khe communal house. That was the event when King Dinh Tien Hoang held a ceremony to the gods and asked the Water God “My Tu Am Phu” to return to the capital to pray for rain. His wish was fulfilled, King Dinh Tien Hoang conferred the two saints with four golden words: “Nhi vi dai vuong” (in 978); Next, King Le Dai Hanh held a ceremony to the gods at the communal house and conferred the two saints with four golden words: “Trung dang phuc than” (981); When King Le Thanh Tong ascended the throne, he wrote a poem to Lo Khe, praising the two saints who had great merit in assisting Le Loi in fighting the Ming invaders (1460); In particular, Lo Khe communal house was honored to welcome President Ho Chi Minh to celebrate the New Year on the first day of the Lunar New Year in the year of Giap Thin (February 13, 1964). This was a special political event, the greatest happiness in the thousand-year history of Lo Khe village.
2.1.2. But Moc Pagoda (Quang Linh Am Tu)
Lo Khe is a village that has had a pagoda since ancient times. According to legend, since the Van Lang period, the village has had a temple to worship the “Stone Buddha”. Legend has it that one clear moonlit night, the stone Buddha rose up, and villagers went to fetch water and saw a strange thing on the hill “Bach Ngo Cong” (White Scallop Hill) with ten green stones sitting in two rows with strange shapes and looking gentle. People
In the past, people believed that heaven and earth brought good luck to the villagers, so they built a stone temple around it and called it “Quang Linh Am Dien” - the predecessor of But Moc Pagoda later. In the 3rd century AD, the name was changed to “Quang Linh Am Tu”.
Villagers commonly call it But Moc Pagoda or Dong Pagoda (because the pagoda is located on a hill in the middle of a field).
By the Le Dynasty in the 15th century, the pagoda was completed. In the field, 5 pagoda rooms were built with a Tam Bao - Thap Dien building. In the innermost part was a stone Buddha shrine, and the pagoda gate was a bell tower. In the village, 5 ancestral houses were built, and during the Nguyen Dynasty, 5 more rooms were built, making 10 rooms. Nuns lived in the ancestral house, and there were usually 4-5 monks in the village. The village gave the pagoda 5 mau and 2 sao of rice fields to live on and to fix the rituals. The old ladies pointed out that going to the pagoda did not require fixing the rituals, and the pagoda had 3 shamans who were in charge of the village. Every year, monks from other villages in Dong Ngan district came to the ancestral house in the village, sometimes for 2 or 3 days to study.
In 1947, implementing the scorched earth resistance policy, the pagoda was moved into the village. Responding to President Ho Chi Minh's call for resistance, the villagers brought a 260 kg bronze bell from the Le Dynasty to support the army in casting guns and bullets. The pagoda was also evacuated into the village. During many generations of abbots, there were 4 enlightened monks whose statues were carved and passed down for hundreds of years, and they are still preserved to this day. On the old pagoda's foundation, three ancient towers and six stone Buddha statues are still preserved intact.
In 1996, the pagoda was rebuilt in the old architecture, behind the communal house, located in the complex of historical and cultural relics of the communal house and Uncle Ho's memorial house.
A village with two pagodas is also a special thing that only exists in Lo Khe village.
But Moc Pagoda is a famous scenic spot near and far, visited by visitors from all over the world, and is bustling with prayer ceremonies in January and February of the lunar calendar every year. Visitors to the pagoda are delighted to light lamps and torches in the hermitage to admire But Moc, consisting of ten statues sitting in two straight rows, each with a different face, shape, and posture, miraculous works of nature.
2.1.3. Other monuments
Church of the Choir
The Ca Cong Temple was built during the Le Dynasty by 12 families of the parish guilds contributing money to build it. The temple was made of ironwood with 5 rooms for the Ancestor's worship, a historical vestige proving that Lo Khe is the ancestral land of Ca Tru. In 2001, the government renovated it. Up to now, the temple still preserves treasures such as: the statues of the Ancestor couple carved from precious wood and placed in the shrine; the genealogy recording the history written by Doctor Dao Cu in the 7th year of Hong Duc (1476); The four large characters "Sinh - Tu - Tu - Dien"; The royal decrees of the Nguyen Dynasty.
Ca Cong Church is where ca tru guilds from all over gather to remember the two founders of ca tru on their birthdays and death days.
Church of two revolutionary patriots
The two scholars Pham Hoang Triet and Pham Hoang Luan were born into a poor farming family in terms of economic life but a family very rich in cultural knowledge.
The father of the two scholars was Pham Hoang Thoa - a sage Confucian scholar who was an exemplary model of simple living. Their mother was Chu Thi Sao, a pure peasant who worked hard and saved money to educate her children. The old man and his wife gave birth to four children:
- The eldest son, Mr. Pham Hoang Tru, passed the bachelor's exam in Dinh Dau year (1897) and was invited by the feudal state to work as an official in Thai Binh province.
- The second son, Mr. Pham Hoang Van, was also a patriotic Confucian scholar, a loyal and trustworthy son of the patriotic movement at that time.
Being born and raised in a Confucian family, in a land rich in revolutionary traditions, all of that soon instilled in them patriotism. Therefore, in the movement of revolutionary organizations in 1907 - 1913 in Lo Khe, both of them put down their pens and took exams to find a revolutionary way to save the country, and joined the Vietnam Restoration Association - an organization sponsored by the government.
The two men were the first in the commune to use weapons to destroy internal and external enemies before the Communist Party of Vietnam was born. Both men died on the guillotine of the French colonialists at the gate of Hoa Lo prison, leaving behind a good name for their homeland and glory for the country.
In 2006, Dong Anh district organized a conference with the participation of historians, cultural officials at all levels, revolutionary museums, Hoa Lo prison management board, district, commune and village leaders to evaluate the great contributions of the two scholars and propose to the competent authorities to permanently record their achievements. And the church of the two revolutionary scholars was soon built as a list of historical and cultural relics of the village. Lo Khe village has another relic after the Uncle Ho memorial house built by Dong Anh district leaders in the middle of Hanoi and the whole country preparing for the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long. Lo Khe people are very proud of the culture and the people of their homeland.
2.2. INTANGIBLE CULTURAL VALUES
On the basis of wet-field agriculture, with a system of communal houses, pagodas, temples and shrines, with the worship of the village guardian spirit as the center, every year the residents of Lo Khe village organize worship activities and cultural activities according to a harmonious and strict schedule.
2.2.1. Customs and practices
Oath of Allegiance
The friendship between Lo Khe and other villages is not recorded in history books and no one knows when it started. The elders recounted: The friendship between the two sides had an agreement. The content was about marriage, about helping each other protect production, about cultural exchange, about traveling to and from village festivals of the two sides...
The people of Lo Khe and the people of Choa village and the people of Lo Khe and the people of Huong Tram village from ancient times until now have considered each other as brothers born from the same womb. Boys and girls from the two villages are not allowed to marry each other, considering this custom as strict as law.
Lo Khe and Huong Tram are two adjacent rice-field villages, formed by Dien Hung and Cao Minh since the Hung King period. The two villages have always stood side by side in protecting production and cultural exchange.
Lo Khe and Choa became sworn brothers because the water god helped Dien Hung fight the enemy. Although the two villages were dozens of kilometers apart, according to the agreement, despite the pouring rain and wind, and muddy roads, the delegations of the two villages still came together on the appointed day in raincoats and conical hats.
The twinned culture of Lo Khe village with Huong Tram and Choa villages is clearly demonstrated through cultural exchanges during festivals between the villages.
On the 10th day of the first lunar month of Lo Khe, Choa village sent a representative to Lo Khe, with offerings including black incense. Lo Khe village waited for the ceremony of Choa village to light incense at the communal house before offering sacrifices to the gods. Conversely, on the 6th day of the first lunar month of Choa village, Lo Khe village also sent someone to bring offerings of royal wine, and only when Lo Khe arrived would Choa village receive them.
On the 10th of August, Huong Tram also came to join the fun with the people of Lo Khe village, attended the festival at the communal house and exchanged cultural greetings. For example:
The eldest brother Huong Tram sang:
"Today is a happy day of peace and prosperity.
His people joined the party to sing and worship the gods. The whole village remembered the friendship between the two people.
There is a letter of agreement between the two peoples. I went to the holy temple to pay my respects.
You give me jade cups and bronze trays to make me happy, one cup of tea and three cups of wine.
I would like to wish you a few words of good health, young and old.
"Happy birthday to my people, may you be rich and prosperous."
The official Lo Khe sang again:
“Celebrating the country's peace and prosperity, Celebrating the year of prosperity and good harvest, Celebrating the increase in production of both people, Celebrating the poor scholars' passing of the imperial examinations.”
After the war, Lo Khe and Choa (including the two villages of Tran Lac and Lac Trung) have long since January 6, Binh Thin year (1976) restored the twinning activities, promoting the old tradition to a new level. Although the twinning relationship has not been restored as before, the brotherly customs and affection between the people of Lo Khe and Huong Tram villages have not changed.
Expanding friendly diplomatic relations is an extremely valuable cultural tradition of our Lo Khe people from the past to the present.
Wedding customs
Marriage is one of the most important events in a person's life. Therefore, for Vietnamese people in the Northern Delta in general and the people of Lo Khe in particular, marriage is not only a matter of a man and a woman but also a matter of the whole family, clan, to see if the two families are compatible or not, and whether they are of equal social status or not.
Marriage must also meet the interests of the village. The custom of paying cheo is an economic means to serve the needs of stabilizing the village. When getting married, the couple must pay the village a "fee" called "cheo" for the wedding to be considered legal. According to the village convention of Lo Khe, the fee for paying cheo is as follows:
- To pay the internal tax, a village boy who marries a village girl must pay a bunch of areca nuts worth 50 or more and 1.8 dong to the public fund. Whoever is present will spend the bunch of areca nuts.
- Cheo ngoai quan is a person from another village who marries a village girl and must fix a bunch of areca nuts worth at least 100 nuts and pay 5 dong to the public fund. That bunch of areca nuts is also according to the above rank.
The distinction and collection of more cheo ngoai than cheo noi is the clearest sign that the custom of paying cheo is an economic measure, a type of “taxing foreign goods”. This amount of money is often used for public works such as repairing temples and pagodas, digging wells, building village gates, paving brick roads, etc.
When the interests of the community are taken into account, then people worry about their own needs.
Like other villages, the wedding customs in the old Lo Khe village also followed the order of 6 ceremonies:
- Nap Thai ceremony: The groom's family informs the bride's family of their choice.
- Name-asking ceremony: The groom's family brings gifts to ask about the girl's name, date of birth, and age to compare the two people's ages to see if they are compatible or incompatible.
- Sand charging ceremony: Ceremony to announce compatibility and officially get engaged.
- Occasionally: Wedding date request ceremony
- Dowry ceremony: The groom's family brings wedding gifts.
- Than nghinh: The groom's family holds the wedding ceremony and welcomes the bride.
Nowadays, in Lo Khe, marriage is built on the basis of love. Young men and women are free to get to know each other, to find a soul mate to build a happy family together. Registration procedures are carried out at the People's Committee of the commune, the ceremonies are simple, mainly including: proposal, engagement and wedding ceremony. The wedding ceremony is the joy of both families with the wish that their children will live happily together, so there is no longer a custom of dowry, the gifts depend on the circumstances of each family.
Funeral customs
Funeral is a ritual marking the final step of the human cycle. Apart from a part of the population who believes that "death is the end", the majority of Lo Khe people believe that death is the separation from life on earth to life in the underworld with the concept that "as on earth, so on earth". Therefore, when each family has a funeral, they often do all the procedures so that the deceased can rest in peace. The day that