Preserving and promoting cultural heritage in people's lives

VHO - Recently, the Ba La Bong Temple and Communal House Complex (Hoa Tien Commune, Da Nang City) was officially ranked as a city-level historical relic. This event is not only an honor and pride for the people of La Bong village but also demonstrates their great responsibility in preserving, protecting, embellishing and promoting the value of local relics.

Land of long-standing cultural transmission

Currently, La Bong communal house relic is the place where traditional worship rituals of La Bong villagers take place, such as the Cau An Ceremony (Thanh Minh Festival) and the Thu Sacrifice Ceremony with the meaning of praying for national peace and prosperity, favorable weather, children's safety, and prosperous business.

In addition to the above ceremonies, before 1975, at La Bong communal house there were 3 annual ceremonies but until now they have not been restored, which are the Quan Thanh ceremony on the 13th day of the first lunar month, the Ngu Hanh ceremony on the 4th day of the fifth lunar month, and the Than Nong ceremony on the 15th day of the third lunar month.

La Bong communal house relic is also a cultural and spiritual living space for La Bong community for generations. Through the worship of the village's tutelary god and village activities, rituals and festivals at the relic have contributed to consolidating and creating close connections within the community, while educating descendants on the morality of "remembering the source of water when drinking".

Ba La Bong Temple and Communal House Complex (Hoa Tien Commune, Da Nang City) is ranked as a city-level historical relic.

Documents on Han Nom, parallel sentences, funeral orations, rituals, worship ceremonies, festivals, etc. at La Bong communal house are a rich source of intangible cultural materials that help research and learn about customs, practices, beliefs and the expansion of the South by our ancestors.

The village communal house, after many relocations, renovations and repairs, has lost its original architectural features compared to the early period and has more or less changed and blended with modern architecture. However, the communal house as a whole still shows its traditional features through each architectural unit and decorative style.

At Ba La Bong Temple, every year, villagers hold a worship ceremony on her birthday, which is January 12 (Lunar calendar). The worship ceremony at Ba La Bong Temple is similar to the worship ceremony at the village communal house, with all the traditional rituals such as reading the funeral oration, offering incense, etc. The ceremony prays for national peace and prosperity, family harmony, and villagers' health, happiness, and prosperity.

Because it is the hometown of the famous Song Cau opera troupe, before 1975, every time the Lady's birthday came, La Bong people often performed opera for two consecutive nights during the days of the worship ceremony. Nowadays, opera at the Lady's temple is no longer performed as often as before and troupes from other places have to be invited to perform.

Intangible cultural heritage such as worship ceremonies, concepts of gods, demons and especially the "system" of oral stories in folklore with mystical and sacred elements... that people still preserve to this day is also a rich document of cultural heritage that helps to understand more about the worldview and spiritual life of the people of La Bong and more broadly, the people of Da Nang. This helps cultural managers and cultural researchers have a more general and comprehensive view of the current appearance of intangible cultural heritage.

Create conditions for people to preserve heritage

Mr. Nguyen Tai - former deputy head of La Bong village, said that the predecessor of La Bong village was Nguyen Dai Lang, who moved from the North to the South following the generations of residents during the southern migration period, up to now, over 450 years. He had great merit as the first person to discover new land, reclaim land, establish villages and communes, and together with the descendants who came after him to "manage the land and cultivate" and build their homeland and villages.

However, according to the book History of Nguyen Phuoc clan in La Bong village kept by Mr. Nguyen Dinh Hung, the name of the ancestor of La Bong village is Nguyen Phuoc Thiem. This book states: "Mr. Nguyen Phuoc Thiem, the ancestor of our Nguyen Phuoc clan, is also a native of La Bong, Hoa Tien today, and is one of the relatives and descendants of Mr. Doan Quoc Cong Nguyen Hoang who went to the South during this period."

La Bong village is also the place where a traditional opera troupe was formed named “Song Cau Opera Troupe” - a short name for Tay Tinh River and Da Bridge. This used to be the pride and associated with the subconscious of many generations of La Bong people. The troupe was once famous throughout the region and was invited to tour many places. After 1975, due to many objective reasons, the troupe no longer operated. For this reason, the organization of traditional opera at festivals at the village communal house and Ba temple no longer took place as frequently as before.

Mr. Huynh Dinh Quoc Thien - Director of Da Nang Museum commented: To protect and promote the value of the relic cluster, it is necessary to urgently establish and perfect the relic management board, and to have a plan to restore and preserve the values of traditional intangible cultural heritage related to the communal house and Ba temple such as worshiping ceremonies, folk theater (hat Boi), and folk customs.

In addition, improving the system of gates and auxiliary works, especially at the village communal house, the plan to build a stele house to protect the stone steles at Ba Temple from environmental damage, renovating the campus and garden to maximize the value of the relic and the plan to protect the relics and antiquities at the relic.

The locality also needs to strengthen education and propaganda work on the origin, history and value of the La Bong Communal House and Temple through inclusion in local educational materials, extracurricular classes and visits to the relic, contributing to raising the sense of responsibility of each individual in protecting the relic.

Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/van-hoa/giu-gin-va-phat-huy-di-san-van-hoa-trong-doi-song-nguoi-dan-155228.html