People who contribute to preserving and promoting the cultural values ​​of communal houses

Mr. Trinh Van Xuan (3rd from left) and members of the Di An Communal House Relic Management Board perform a communal house worship ritual.

Have a relationship with village culture

Without going through any formal training, but in Binh Duong, Mr. Trinh Van Xuan is considered to have a thorough understanding of village communal house culture, both in terms of knowledge and practice of rituals.

Starting from a student of etiquette to the role of Head of the Management Board of Di An Communal House Relic, up to now, Mr. Xuan has been attached to Di An Communal House for about 36 years. He said that it was his "fate".

Not only did he donate land and participate in mobilizing people to rebuild the communal house, but many previous generations of his family had members of the Di An communal house's Worship Committee. Since childhood, Mr. Xuan was also oriented to participate in the communal house's activities. At the age of 7-8, he joined the communal house's rites team and was taught rituals by his predecessors. At first, he was only a servant, after 2 years of studying, he was allowed to go to the ceremony. He said: "In addition to learning about rituals, we, the members of the rites team, were also taught many meaningful things in life by our teachers. Thanks to that, we were able to study systematically, master the worship rituals, how to read the funeral oration, how to chant the ceremony not only at the communal house, but also learned about other folk worship rituals".

After the teacher who taught Mr. Xuan passed away (in 1991), his studies also stopped. From then on, he did not study with any other teacher, but only researched and supplemented his knowledge through books and knowledgeable people.

With what he had accumulated, at the age of 27, Mr. Xuan was trusted by the elders at the communal house to be the Head of the Communal House's Quy Te Committee. At this time, Di An communal house was in a state of disrepair, and although the communal house worship ceremonies were organized, they were only maintained for formality. Therefore, the elders at the communal house trusted and expected Mr. Xuan to be the Head of the Committee to find ways to restore and revive the communal house's activities. "Seeing that I was still young and still had to worry about food and clothing for my family, I refused from the beginning. After many times of persuasion, seeing that the aunts and uncles trusted me, I agreed but set a condition that I would only be the Head of the Committee for one year, and when things were stable, I would hand over this responsibility to someone else. A year later, I mentioned this again but no one agreed. So I continued to do it until now. It has been 36 years," Mr. Xuan shared.

Want the younger generation to inherit

Mr. Xuan's contributions in recent times have been recognized by all levels and sectors with certificates of merit, certificates of merit, and medals for his many achievements in the movement to preserve and promote intangible cultural heritage of communal house festivals in particular and promote relics in general. What he is currently concerned about is the successor team, so that when members of the Management Board like him are old and no longer able to shoulder the responsibility of the communal house, there will be another team to maintain this work, so that cultural values ​​​​continue to be promoted over time.

Preserve and promote cultural heritage

As the Head of the Di An communal house's worship committee, Mr. Xuan not only manages the general work but also participates in practicing and guiding people in practicing many important rituals in the annual ceremonies and worshiping ceremonies at the communal house.

Although he did not attend any formal training, he is a studious person, likes to explore and research, so he often goes to bookstores to buy books about traditional culture, old and new customs... to read. Until now, he still maintains the habit of buying books to read. From the knowledge taught by teachers to the knowledge in books, through consulting with experts, knowledge and direct practice at the communal house, Mr. Xuan has a very good understanding of the annual communal house worship ceremonies. Not only does he understand the meaning, order, implementation method, and offerings in each ceremony, he also guides the members of the Board of Trustees to perform the communal house worship ceremonies according to traditional rituals. In the past, the rituals of Di An communal house have been performed methodically, in accordance with the Southern communal house festival tradition and in accordance with contemporary culture.

Thanks to his mastery of the ritual, Mr. Xuan guided the Di An ritual students to become a team that practices standard rituals according to the regulations of the ancient Southern ritual.

As the Head of the Management Board of Di An Communal House Relic, in the past time, Mr. Xuan has been both the general manager and the guide for members to practice and directly participate in practicing many rituals in the worship ceremonies at the communal house. Among them are important rituals, highly appreciated by members of the Management Board of Di An Communal House Relic as well as other communal houses, such as: Chau building ritual, Nghinh Sac ceremony of Di An Communal House (on the occasion of the Ky Yen Festival of the communal house)... The things he has done and is doing have contributed positively to preserving, protecting and promoting the value of communal house worship rituals, as well as spreading the value of rituals to the local community.

Not only that, he was also invited by many local and foreign communal houses to give advice on organizing worship ceremonies and practicing worship rituals. His understanding and constructive advice helped the Management Board and the Board of Trustees of some local communal houses to apply them to the actual practice of the communal house so that the worship rituals could be practiced properly, preserving the traditional features and promoting the value of the communal house.

With his knowledge, Mr. Xuan was also invited by the locality to practice the rituals at the Hung King's Commemoration Ceremony and the ancestor worship ceremony at the Commemoration Ceremony of the Theatre Profession in Di An City in 1999 and 2020 (formerly Di An District). Most recently, he was invited by Thu Dau Mot City to participate as a member of the Jury of the "Student Ritual" contest (in 2023, 2024). This is also the first locality in the province to organize a contest on student rituals at communal houses. Mr. Xuan shared that the purpose of his agreement to participate as a judge is to contribute to guiding the student rituals at communal houses, so that the rituals of communal houses in the province are increasingly more elaborate.

Mr. Xuan's contributions to preserving and promoting the cultural values ​​at Di An communal house in recent times have contributed positively to affirming the values ​​being preserved at the communal house. In 2011, Di An communal house was ranked as a provincial-level relic. In 2019, it was ranked as a national relic by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Then, in 2023, the communal house's Ky Yen Festival was listed as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage.

The Dinh Dinh Di An Festival attracts a large number of people to participate every time it is held.

Source: https://baobinhduong.vn/nguoi-gop-phan-giu-gin-phat-huy-gia-tri-van-hoa-dinh-lang-a344183.html