Khai Long Temple - Ancient features preserved

(Baonghean) - On the warm Qingming Festival, we went on a spring outing to visit Khai Long Temple in Tan Son Commune, Do Luong. From Khuon Bridge (National Highway 7), turning about 2 km, visitors can admire the beauty of a classic rural village painting in the central region with the temple located next to fields, villages, and in the distance are rolling hills.

Mr. Dao Cong Than - a "grand elder" of Tan Son commune, is recalling the cultural and spiritual activities imbued with the identity of the local residents associated with the address of Khai Long temple.

Leading us to visit the temple was Mr. Dao Cong Than, a retired army colonel, now 90 years old but still agile and clear-minded. Khai Long Temple is currently located on Boi field.

In front is the green color of spring rice fields stretching all the way to Ong Voi Mountain. Behind is also green rice fields, in the distance is Cam Thuong Mountain. Next to the temple is a village with a dense population, a prosperous countryside.

According to Mr. Than, Khai Long temple is located next to the creek that leads water from Van Trang field down, so it is considered by local residents as a place to guard the dragon vein, contributing to the peace of the entire countryside.

Mr. Tran Nhu Y - Vice Chairman of Tan Son Commune People's Committee (3rd from left) said that Khai Long Temple was built during the Later Le Dynasty, worshiping Ngo Xuong Xi, son of Ngo Xuong Ngap and grandson of Ngo Quyen.

Mr. Tran Nhu Y - Vice Chairman of Tan Son Commune People's Committee said that according to the management books of the old Duy Tan commune that are still preserved, and according to the sacrificial ceremony and funeral oration, Khai Long temple was built during the Later Le dynasty, worshiping Ngo Xuong Xi - grandson of Ngo Quyen, son of Thien Sach Vuong Ngo Xuong Ngap.

At that time, Ngo Xuong Xi guarded the Binh Kieu region, so he was also called the Binh Kieu Warlord. After the chaos, the Binh Kieu Warlord submitted to Dinh Bo Linh, contributing to helping Dinh Bo Linh (Dinh Tien Hoang) suppress the "12 Warlords Rebellion", continuing to maintain independence.

According to Mr. Dao Cong Than, when he grew up, Khai Long Temple held 5 main festivals a year: Nguyen Dan Festival (the first day of Tet), Khai Ha Festival (the 7th day of the first lunar month), Thuong Tan Festival (eating new rice, 20th day of the 5th lunar month), Trap Nghe Festival (Ha Nguyen, the 15th day of the seventh lunar month), Thuong Nien Festival. The temple was the place where many spiritual and traditional cultural activities took place, such as Tuong singing and Vi singing of Tuong troupes and fabric guilds in the area.

Local people still pass down many stories about the responsiveness, about the role of encouraging good and eliminating evil, to help preserve the traditional customs of the temple. In the past, people passing through Khai Long temple had to take off their hats, and officials passing through the temple had to get off their horses. The temple has long been a source of pride associated with the shape of the homeland with its ancient architecture.

In the 20th century, Khai Long Temple was "evacuated". Since 2014, the temple has been restored with socialized resources and has become a spiritual and cultural address in the region, along with many traditional folk cultural activities have also been restored.

Mr. Tran Nhu Y - Vice Chairman of Tan Son Commune People's Committee said that through the ups and downs of history, in the last century, Khai Long Temple had to be "evacuated". Thanks to the achievements of the renovation process, the people's lives in the area have become increasingly prosperous, Tan Son Commune has developed comprehensively.

In 2000, the Party Committee, government and people of Tan Son commune were one of the first three communes in the country to be awarded the title of Labor Hero in the renovation period. At this time, from the legitimate aspirations of generations of Tan Son children living everywhere, originating from the submission of the Tan Son commune government and Do Luong district, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism issued Document No. 1248 dated June 14, 2010 agreeing to the policy of restoring Khai Long temple.

When the commune had a policy of mobilizing social resources to restore the temple, a voluntary movement calling for donations to build the temple spread widely. Some families mobilized their children to donate hundreds of millions of dong. Many groups of workers and people contributed thousands of working days.

The households ceded the old land of the temple with an area of ​​nearly 7,000m2. Within only 14 months of construction, in 2014 an architectural work with 3 buildings: upper hall, middle hall, lower hall, pillars... was inaugurated.

Since then, many traditional cultural activities have been gradually restored. From 2014 to present, Khai Long Temple has become one of the cultural activity centers of Tan Son commune, contributing to the movement "All people unite to build cultural life in residential areas", becoming an active spiritual and cultural address contributing to the policy of building an advanced cultural life, imbued with national identity in the locality.

Article and photos: Tri Duong