Community hall in Vietnam | Tập San Việt Học

Community Hall in Vietnam

Vinh-The Lam

Community Hall (or Đình) is a public building in villages in Vietnam. It is public because it is a common property owned by the people of the village. It carries out three functions at the same time: administrative, religious and cultural. Administratively, Đình is the meeting and working place for the village officials. In Southern Vietnam, the nhà việc (also called nhà hội, nhà võ), the administrative centre of the village, is often built right behind, within the perimeter of the Đình. In terms of religion, Đình is the worshipping place for Thần Hoàng, the deity that is royally decreed with the duty to protect the villagers. Culturally, Đình is the physical building with the best architecture of the village. Every year, the celebration of the Kỳ Yên (ceremony to pray for peace) at the Đình is the biggest Festival of the village with the participation of all villagers.

In Northern Vietnam, there are many old Đình that have been built since the 16th century, such as the Đình Lỗ Hạnh, in Hiệp Hòa District, Province of Bắc Giang (believed to be built in 1576). In Southern Vietnam, only explored and reclaimed from the early 17th century, the oldest Đình were probably built at the end of the 18th century. A large number of Đình are now officially recognized by the government as “Historical – Cultural Sites.” Although there is no official statistics of the number of Đình for the whole country, we know for sure that it could be in the tens of thousands. Just in Ho Chi Minh City, three hundred Đình have been registered.

In spite of regional differences, in general, all Đình were built following certain standards. First, in terms of location, all Đình were constructed at sites carefully selected according to recognized Feng Shui principles. The principal direction of Đình is almost always the South, believed to be the direction favoured by deities. Surrounding Đình are planted big, tall trees that provide a lot of shade, such as banian trees, or silk cotton trees (bombax ceiba), or weeping fig (ficus stricta) in the North, or poplar, or dipterocarpaceae, or hopea in the South. In terms of structural plan, Đình in the South often include the following structures:

Gate of Đình, or Nghi Môn
Front Yard of Đình, with a brick or stone screen in the middle of the foreground having a banked up figure of a tiger, called Bia Ông Hổ
In both sides of the Yard, there are small shrines for the worship of auxiliary deities of Đình, such as Bạch Hổ (The White Tiger), Thần Ngủ Hành (Diety of the Five Elements), Cửu Thiên Huyền Nữ (Legendary Lady of the Ninth Sky), Thổ Thần (Diety of the Earth), Ông Tà (Neakta, a diety of Cambodian origin), etc.
Vỏ Ca, a big hall, used to group officials before the worshipping ceremony, and also used as a theatre where the traditional theatre group performs during the Festival
Vỏ Quy, a hall to group worshippers before they move into the Main Hall
Chánh Điện, the Main Hall, where Thành Hoàng and other euxiliary deities are worshipped
Nhà Túc, or Visitors Hall, where guests, after worshipping, are seated for refreshment and conversation; there are two ways to lay out this structure; one way is to build it right behind the Main Hall; the other way is to build it in two parts, each part along each side of the Main Hall, in this case, these two parts are called Đông Lang (East Wing) for women, and Tây Lang (West Wing) for men
Nhà Trù, often built right behind the Main Hall, beside the Nhà Túc, is the kitchen where foods are prepared for the offerings to the deities and also to serve guests
Nhà Cối, beside the Nhà Trù, is the warehouse to store tools owned by Đình

In addition to Thành Hoàng, the principally worshipped diety, most Đình worship many other deities of the Vietnamese pantheon. This Vietnamese pantheon, deeply influenced by the Chinese culture and mythology based on the Three Element System Sky-Earth-Man, always includes three components: 1) Thiên Thần (Celestial Deities, deities having sacred origin from the Sky); 2) Nhiên Thần (Natural Deities, deities representing the forces of the Nature—Earth—such as Sơn Thần (Deity of the Mountain), Thủy Thần (Deity of the Water), Thổ Thần (Deity of the Earth); and, 3) Nhân Thần (Human Deities, deities having human origin, who have been elevated to the rank of deities due to their special lives and achievements). Among the Celestial Deities, Thánh Mẫu Liễu Hạnh and Phù Đổng Thiên Vương (also called Thánh Gióng) are worshipped in most Đình in Northern Vietnam while Thánh Mẫu such as Chúa Ngọc, Chúa Tiên, Chúa Xứ, are worshipped in Đình in Central and Southern Vietnam. Among the Natural Deities, Thần Ngũ Hành (Deities of the Five elements; Thổ Thần – also called Ông Địa – is the most worshipped), Thần Hổ (Tiger Deity), and Thần Cá Voi (Whale Deity) are often worshipped. Among the Human Deities, national heroes and historical characters having great contributions to the Nation are most frequently worshipped. The Right Honourable Nguyễn Hữu Cảnh, General of the Army, Marquis of Lễ Thành (Lễ Thành Hầu), who was chiefly responsible for the exploration and reclamation of the South, is being worshipped in numerous Đình in Southern Vietnam. The Main Hall, where altars for the deities are located, is always the best decorated hall with imposingly and beautifully engraved / carved / sculpted furniture and auxiliaries. In the South, in many Đình, statues of the deities are not to be found, instead, only the Chinese character for “THẦN” (Deity) 神 is displayed on the main altar.

All Đình in Vietnam organize annually vibrant and colourful festivals with the participation of all villagers. These festivals, sometimes lasting for a few days, are special cultural traits of the regions that attract foreign visitors as well as visitors from all over the country.

Due to these above-mentioned characteristics, Đình has become an important factor in the cultural life of the Vietnamese people. We can find the image of Đình in lovely folk song / folk poetry, such as:

Qua Đình ngả nón trông Đình

(Passing by Đình, I remove my hat to have a closer look at Đình)

Đình bao nhiêu ngói thương mình bấy nhiêu

(My love for you is uncountable like the number of tiles on the roof of Đình)

Or

Trúc xinh trúc mọc đầu Đình

(The small bamboo is beautiful because it grows in front of Đình)

Em xinh em đứng một mình cũng xinh

(You are so beautiful that standing alone you are still beautiful)

Suggested Further Readings:

Hà Văn Tấn, Nguyễn Văn Kự. Đình Việt Nam = Community hall in Vietnam. T.P. Hồ Chí Minh: Nhà xuất bản Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, 1998.
Huỳnh Ngọc Trảng, Trương Ngọc Tường, Hồ Tường. Đình Nam Bộ: tín ngưỡng và nghi lễ. T.P. Hồ Chí Minh: Nhà xuất bản Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, 1993.
Hồ Tường, chủ biên. Đình ở thành phố Hồ Chí Minh. T.P. Hồ Chí Minh: Nhà xuất bản Trẻ, 2005.
Sơn Nam. Đình miếu và lễ hội dân gian. Đồng Tháp: Nhà xuất bản Đồng Tháp, 1994.
Huỳnh Đình Kiết. Tục thờ thần ở Huế. Huế: Nhà xuất bản Thuận Hóa, 1998.
Lâm Vĩnh Thế. Những sắc thái riêng biệt trong tín ngưỡng dân gian Miền Nam, accessible online in the bilingual English-Vietnamese Website of Tập-san Việt-Học Journal at this URL: https://viethocjournal.com/2018/11/sac-thai-rieng-biet-tin-nguong-dan-gian-mien-nam/
Lâm Vĩnh Thế. Đình Minh Hương Gia Thạnh, accessible online in the Website of Nam Kỳ Lục Tỉnh, at this URL: https://sites.google.com/site/namkyluctinhorg/tac-gia-tac-pham/i-j-k-l-m/lam-vinh-the/dhinh-minh-huong-gia-thanh