Dong communal house Festival in Khanh Thanh Commune, Yen Thanh District

     Dong communal house is 60km from the center of Vinh city to the North and 7km from Yen Thanh Town to the West - South.

Dong communal house relic was built in the reign of King Le Thanh Tong, the 3rd Hong Duc era (1472), 16th century to worship saints who had contributed to the people, country and homeland such as: Four Female Saints. In addition, it also combined worshiping some other characters such as Nguyen Xuan Khoan, Cao Son, Cao Cac, Ly Thien Cuong, Phan Thuc Truc, Phan Ham Mau, Nguyen Trung Lao.

Dong communal house is a temple that still retains many ancient features with three-hall architecture, superficial scale in well-matched harmony in the art of expression, architectural arrangement and in the softness and sophistication in each architectural structure. The architectural style is national, simple, modest, gentle, associated with nature, fields, rivers and people of Nghe An.

Especially, there are many ancient and precious artifacts at the relic such as dragon throne, incense-burner, ordination, genealogy, couplets, .... These are precious antiques, having both historical and cultural value, aesthetic value but still full of art, because themes of four sacred animals (dragon, unicorn, turtle, phoenix), four kinds of trees (Cedrus, chrysanthemum, bamboo, apricot)  are depicted richly and vividly on them, which shows the qualifications and skills of artisans, contributing into the study of styles and forms of artistic expression of Vietnamese feudal dynasties.

Besides, Dong communal house is also a place of spiritual and cultural activities, a place of strong emotional cohesion of people in Khanh Thanh commune and surrounding areas. Every year, two solemn ceremonies take place at the temple: the votive burning ceremony on 07^th January and lễ sắp ấn giao quan on 25^th December of the lunar calendar. In which the votive burning ceremony is the festival of the village. On this occasion, people hold procession and sacrifice ceremony. In addition, there is also a festival with attractive cultural and artistic activities attracting a large number of tourists such as competitions: tug of war, Tuong singing, drumming and human chess. This is a meaningful spiritual activity to show gratitude to the gods, and at the same time to ask them to protect all peoples. The festival is an opportunity for people to turn to their roots and burn incense to offer to the gods.

In addition, the current activities at the communal house have contributed to preserving and thickening the intangible cultural values that our ancestors have painstakingly created and handed down.