With the spirit of community participation in preserving and promoting the cultural heritage of the village, on January 22, 2016, So Communal House, Cong Hoa commune, Quoc Oai district took place the program “Vietnamese Tet holiday – Xuan Dinh Dau 2017” organized by the Vietnamese Communal House Group.
The program was attended by international guests who are ambassadors, members of diplomatic missions and international organizations in Vietnam; Mr. Pham Sanh Chau – Assistant Secretary of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Secretary-General of Viet Nam National Commission for UNESCO; On the side of the city was Mr. Truong Minh Tien – Deputy Director of Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports; Mr. Nguyen Van Thang – Member of the Committee, Secretary of the District Party Committee, Chairman of People’s Council of Tay Ho District; On the side of Quoc Oai District, there were Mr. Do Lai Lua – Vice Chairman of the District People’s Committee, Mr. Nguyen Vu Han – Head of the Culture and Information Department with leaders of Cong Hoa commune, Vietnamese Communal House Group and visitors from all over the world.
Being held in So Communal House, one of the most beautiful houses in Doai Village, the program “Vietnamese Tet Holiday- Spring of Dinh Dau 2017” has reproduced the whole tradition of ancient Tet holiday in one day for everyone to return to the tradition, spread traditional cultural values in the community, especially young people with a lot of well-prepared and abundant contents, especially the appearance of Ao dai customs – traditional custom of the old men and women. In the Communal House, Vietnamese Communal House Group has performed the artistic content of the program, with rituals of singing at the Communal House’s door, Xoan singing, and Cheo singing – traditional music closely linked with the Communal House. In addition, the traditional ancient customs such as raising Neu tree, wearing Ao dai, getting calligraphy, making Banh Chung, cooking soft green-lentil cake. Kim Hoang folk painting category of Hanoi lost for a long time now appear with paintings printing performance in 2017 Vietnamese Tet holiday program. Through this, participants will know and understand more about the significance of the Lunar New Year Festival with the beautiful customs that make up the soul of the Vietnamese nation.
Performance of Kim Nham Cheo
In the morning, the program started with the performance of making Banh Chung and cooking soft green-lentil cake. Here, guests were guided directly and made and cook Banh Chung in the traditional way. This is the content that many members expect because of the city life makes the Banh Chung become strange, especially with the youth.
With the desire to re-present the true ancient Tet holiday, the Organization Board devoted a space for calligraphy, displaying and introducing the folk categories of Dong Ho paintings, Hang Trong paintings… Here, the guests could talk about historical paintings, production and the use of paintings on the traditional Tet holiday. Also on the afternoon of the same day, the main tasks of the program will be held such as the talk about Tet holiday and the traditional culture in the Vietnamese Tet holiday such as Thanh Hoang ceremony, Neu tree raising ritual, worshiping ancestors at the end of the year, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, Communal House’s door singing, Communal House’s yard Cheo singing … In which, Communal House’s door singing is a long-standing customs with deep meaning for cultural village community life in the past. A Communal House’s door singing is to show respect to the village’s Thanh Hoang and wish for a good harvest, warm, happy life.
Communal House’s door singing
At the event, Mr. Nguyen Van Thang – Member of the Committee’s Communist Party, Secretary of the District Party Committee, Chairman of the People’s Council of Tay Ho District, a person of Cong Hoa commune, handed over 37 title plates restored of Nguyen dynasty and Le dynasty for the So Communal House after permission for restoring within three months to ensure the preservation and promotion of the values of the monument. According to Mr. Truong Minh Tien – Deputy Director of Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports, in 2017 the So Communal House is one of 5 monuments of Hanoi proposed ranked special historical national level. He requested the authorities of Cong Hoa commune to cooperate with Quoc Oai district, Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports to prepare the necessary procedures such as the translation of the genealogy, epitaph, titles, Horizontal lacquered board, management of relics and antiques, maintaining hygiene for the environment and relics space, especially the problem of fire prevention and explosion … preparation of the dossier requesting the classification of historical monuments of special national level later.
Dung Nguyen