Description

Diem Tinh communal house is located in the middle of the field, at the top of the village in Diem Tinh village, Ninh Phung commune, Ninh Hoa town, Khanh Hoa province.
* Origin of relics
Diem Tinh communal house was born and exists in association with the changes of the land and people of Diem Tinh village today. In the early days of its establishment, the village was called Xuan An commune; in the reign of King Thieu Tri, the village changed its name to Diem An village; after that, the village continued to change to An Thach Dong village; after some time changed to Tinh Tinh village; During the reign of King Tu Duc, the village was called Diem Tinh village[1].
The name of the communal house is named after the name of the village, so, at the same time with the change of the village name, the name of the village communal house also changes, because the communal house was born after the village stabilized, so the communal house today is Diem Tinh. Also known as the communal house of An Thach Dong village or the communal house of Diem Tinh. The name Diem Tinh has a meaning: the villagers want the village to be peaceful, the people's life stable and this name has been kept since then. After a period of settling down and reclaiming land on a new land, the people in the village built a small communal house to worship the gods and serve as a place of religious activities for the community in the village.
Diem Tinh communal house was born when no one remembers, in the memory of many people about a communal house created from the beginning as follows: The communal house is located on a dune in the middle of the village's fields, with an area of about 60m2  with a system of columns, trusses, wooden sesame rafters, thatched roofs, hemorrhoids (soil) walls, tiled floors. Due to being made of simple materials, the ability to withstand extreme weather is not high, so Diem Tinh communal house has been repaired 3 times (1704, 1750, 1810) before moving. In 1875, the wooden pillars were badly damaged, the communal house was seriously degraded, and because this location was not convenient for incense as well as annual sacrifices, the villagers had a meeting and agreed to move the communal house to the present location. (300m from the old location to the Southeast, an area of 200m2).

Regarding the current communal house date, based on the great Chinese characters on the ancient floor in the main hall, it is written "...created in February of the Year of the Goat" and ordained the earliest that King Thanh Thai's reign in the 2nd year (1890) ) gifted the village of Diem Tinh to worship Thanh Hoang and Dai Can Quoc Nam Hai with four saints at Diem Tinh communal house, we can guess the relative age of the relic is around the end of the 19th century. Over a long period of existence, along with the harsh weather and war, Diem Tinh communal house has deteriorated and undergone renovations: 1954, 1971, 2004, 2009.

* Monumental features
The front of the Diem Tinh vestibule looks to the southwest, the campus has a total area of 1,675 m2. From the outside to the inside, Diem Tinh communal house has the following overall layout: Communal gate (Nghi mon), flag pole, feng shui plan, Son Lam temple, Muc Dong - Muc statue temple, Tien Hien temple, main hall, house guest, Thien Y A Na temple, kitchen.
Diem Tinh communal house was built to worship the village Thanh Hoang and to worship Tien Hien, Muc Dong-Muc Tuong, Son Lam Lord General and Thien Y An Na.

The front of Thien Y Na temple at Diem Tinh communal house

At present, Diem Tinh communal house still preserves ancient artifacts such as diaphragms, parallel sentences, etc., especially 05 ordinations granted by the Nguyen kings:
- In the 2nd year of King Thanh Thai's reign (1890), he conferred Ban Canh Thanh Hoang.
In the 2nd year of King Thanh Thai's reign (1890), he conferred four saints on Dai Can Quoc Nam Hai.
- In the 3rd year of the reign of King Duy Tan (1909), he conferred the title of Emperor Cang.
-During the reign of King Duy Tan in the 3rd year (1909), he conferred four saints on Dai Can Quoc Nam Hai.
During the reign of King Khai Dinh in the 9th year (1924), Thien Y A Na was ordained.
In the history of the national liberation struggle, Diem Tinh communal house is one of the places where historical events took place:
Since 1926, Diem Tinh communal house has been a place where people in the village united against the French colonialists under the command of Mr. Nguyen The and Mr. Nguyen Buoi. In 1930, Mr. Nguyen The mobilized the people in the village to pull together to the mitting street, protest, demand tax reduction. During the period 1945-1946, Diem Tinh village had more than 51 people escaping from the resistance and more than 40 families participating. revolutionary family. In 1946, Diem Tinh village established a group for making weapons (swords, knives, coolers, gongs...) with 12 people and a group for making shoes with 10 people. Both groups (forging weapons and making shoes) chose Diem Tinh communal house as a place to supply the revolution.
Every year, Diem Tinh communal house organizes the festival in two days, February 16 and February 17 (lunar calendar). On every festival occasion, the Sacrifice Board organizes a procession of the scepter [sent at Thien Buu Thuong pagoda (Ninh Phung commune)] to the communal house, after completing the ceremony, the identity is returned to the temple.
From the tangible and intangible cultural values of the relic, on December 30, 2010 Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 3420/QD-UBND ranking Diem Tinh communal house as an architectural monument. provincial art.

[1] - Nguyen Dinh Dau (1997), Research on Nguyen Khanh Hoa Dynasties, Ho Chi Minh City Publishing House, Ho Chi Minh City;

- Convention of cultural village in Diem Tinh village, Ninh Phung commune, Ninh Hoa town.