Unique architectural features of ancient houses in Duong Lam

Unique architectural features of ancient houses in Duong Lam

Unique architectural features of ancient houses in Duong Lam Visiting the ancient village relic complex in Duong Lam, in addition to admiring and learning about the types of valuable historical, cultural, architectural and artistic relics such as: communal houses, temples, pagodas, shrines, mausoleums, shops, inns, literature, martial arts..., immersing yourself in the bustling, sacred village festivals or enjoying unique cultural and culinary dishes, visitors cannot miss visiting the typical ancient houses that exist in the typical ancient village of the Northern Delta region. hey. Ancient houses in Duong Lam were built with traditional types typical of the Doai region including laterite, wood, bamboo, straw, young mud, fine clay, sawdust, rice husk, and baked bricks of all kinds. Laterite is the main material for building walls, gables, gates or fences. In addition to being used to build houses, this type of laterite is also used to build public and religious cultural works such as: village gates, communal houses, pagodas, shrines, inns, shops, ancient wells... With the characteristic that once built, the house ensures a well-ventilated climate, warm in winter and cool in summer, that's why people also call this village "ancient Vietnamese laterite village". Wood to build a house, if in the past it was a house with economic status and position in the village, was made of four types of iron (nails, ironwood, wood, wood). Normally, houses with moderate economic conditions are mainly made of oval wood. Xoan is grown in hillsides. Bamboo and bamboo are also planted near canals, ditches, and furrows; Usually it's old bamboo with unbroken tips. Bamboo wood is often placed on the bottom of ponds and lakes to form rafts, where the pond bottom has a lot of mud to prevent weevils from gnawing away. Soaking usually lasts as long as possible, 6 - 8 months or 1 year. When picked up and peeled to dry them in the sun along with the bamboo, it smells very unpleasant before it can be considered thoroughly soaked. The roof is covered with different types of tiles such as ri-nose, comedy-nose, and fish-scale. Usually, people cover a layer of tiles first (also called lining bricks) and roof from the bottom of the roof. This type of tile was often purchased via boats transported up the Red River from famous pottery making areas such as Bat Trang (Hanoi), Chu Dau (Hai Duong), Day Well (Dong Trieu - Quang Ninh), Phu Lang (Bac Ninh). Materials such as bamboo are used to make bamboo poles, there are also houses made of oval wood, or wood mixed from large panels. The key points at important points are also made of old bamboo poles. On the front side of the house, the top bordering the door is a convenient row that can be made square, round, etc. Ancient houses often face south, are designed in the style of 5 rooms and 2 chairs, or 7 rooms and 2 chairs, with many doors facing inwards. Doors are made mainly of two types: tabletop and streetscape. This type of table top creates a convenient landscape when the house has a big task that needs space, the homeowner often lifts it out to make it more spacious and puts the door down as a counter for sitting and eating. The house is arranged with 5-7 rows of legs, 2 main columns and a military column. Each column stands on a green stone pedestal, the side adjacent to the ground is square, the side supporting the column is round (symbolizing Asian thinking - the sky is round and the earth is square). Some old houses look up at the ceiling at the beams, rafters and rafters, and the roof beams are often discolored and covered in black soot because in the past, houses used to light fires with wood stoves to warm up in the winter, especially on occasions when someone gave birth, or the elderly were weak or sick... The floor that the house often used was earth that was rammed and compacted to make sure it was firm. Some houses use lime slurry, then they cut the filling beads in half and stick them on the floor in quadrilaterals, parallelograms, and door niches to clear the spaces to make the house airy, as well as to easily observe and prevent thieves (seeing their feet) wanting to break into the house. The middle space is where the altars for the highest people of the three generations are placed. The two side rooms also place the altars for the deceased in the family arranged according to hierarchy (if they are the head of the family). The altar can have more incense bowls and figures. Under the altar are large, thick ironwood counters or counters. The left and right spaces are often set up with couches: 1 table and 2 benches to receive guests with a teapot to make green tea, usually filled with water to brew in a jar with 6 dull brown bowls, a lime pot, a betel nut, a hookah bowl, and a tube to hold firewood. Below the table are a few things such as a betel bowl, a side bowl, a kettle for Chinese tea (dried tea buds), a small lime jar, a tobacco bowl or a small wooden box holding a plow pipe made of bamboo to retain the hook. Two rooms are for the daughter or daughter-in-law, in addition to being a warehouse for storing rice, pots and pans, bowls and chopsticks, and small chests. On the porch, there are 1 or 2 bamboo mats (some houses still keep a chest placed right under the main altar). This box used to contain a few precious things, expensive personal belongings, tools, and agricultural products (glutinous rice, glutinous rice, peanuts, etc.) to avoid rats and insects from entering. Other works related to ancient houses that cannot be ignored include houses, kitchens, wells, yards, gardens, screens, barns for livestock and poultry, entrance gates, and incense trees. In particular, screens and incense trees also have important spiritual roles in the family. The screen is placed on the wall, opposite the altar room - the main door, and can be made of pearl inlay with two eggshells, or porcelain with glossy celadon. The incense tree was built in the corner of the yard or at an angle to the first and last rooms of the house. The ancient laterite water well also played a significant role in family activities and raising livestock and poultry. The well is dug quite deep. In villages with high positions such as Mong Phu and Cam Lam, the water is absorbed through laterite beds, so toxic impurities are filtered out, achieving purity and not harmful to human health. Getting water from the well also goes through many stages, using different tools (because the well must be dug deep). At first, people used buckets and ropes to scoop each bucket. After improvement, use the winch to rotate with an industrial greased cable (small wire type). At this time, the bucket was designed to be larger and its capacity also increased, not wasting as much human effort as before. Then when there was electricity and science developed, every house used vacuum pumps and built filter tanks so water was stored and filtered through sand and gravel or activated carbon, making it even more secure. Today, although it is covered by a tap water system, many families still keep the laterite well but it is a submerged well (the well's barrel is not protruding to the surface to save space and replaced with a solid concrete cover that covers the surface). The well is still used, it is a valuable raw material for making soy sauce, making tea... The gate itself is made of 2 roofs, covered with fish-scale tiles, has two ways to turn inward, each way has a circular handle made of rustic wood. In the ancient house, each family still retains many precious artifacts such as: genealogy, Han Nom documents, worship objects, and artifacts related to the daily life of each member such as: old weddings, costumes, pictures, and production tools. In particular, on the roof, almost every house has a formal balcony in the middle. In the garden, it is always green in all four seasons because of perennial fruit trees in different seasons such as pomegranates, peaches, sapodillas, guavas, jackfruit, grapefruits, lemons, longans, lychees, bananas... Many larger houses also have ponds, and in the corner of the yard are some clay pots to ferment soy sauce. Those jars of soy sauce were likened to a precious "refrigerator" in the past after every day the homeowner had an event such as a party, death anniversary, wedding, or vegetarian meal. They often put in it boiled pork that's almost cooked (when it's not used up) or eggplants. When eaten, its quality is even more delicious and attractive. The large eggplants incubated in it absorb all the delicious essence of the soy sauce. Take it out, tear it, turn it amber, add a little vinegar, sugar, and garlic to eat it as food. The families in the ancient village often meet each other to gather on the first day of the ancestors, usually it takes place at the end of the year, or the Spring Festival, the village communal house festival or the Thanh Minh Festival. In Duong Lam, there are famous families such as Phan, Ha, Giang, Do, Kieu, and Cao. People in ancient village areas often have close relationships with each other. They often use the name of their eldest son (first son) to call their biological parents by name. Anyone who has passed away in their family must have a custom of inviting relatives to visit, and after the visit, they must go out to eat a meal to express their condolences to the family. The elderly lady in the house is also called "wood". Each relic in the village usually appoints a reputable person to take care of it, also known as an uncle. This person must be a reputable person in the village (well-mannered children and grandchildren, exemplary family, no one breaking the law or social evils). The priest of the communal house - temple must be a person who meets the above qualifications. If he is on duty and has a brother in three generations passed away (people call it an excuse or dust), he must stop and return the duty to the village immediately. At a family, village, neighborhood or clan party, the family often has to have enough dishes such as sticky rice, rooster meat, braised sweet soup, banh gai... Especially in Dong Sang village, it is famous for being a place to cook delicious meals and beautifully decorate the trays. The products in the village include sesame grown in Lo Cang, sweet potatoes in Dong Buong, peanut candy in Dong Sang, Mia chicken, water donuts, sticky rice with tiled birds in the 9th lunar month season, fish braised in soy sauce, soy sauce in Mong Phu village... Ancient houses often divided ownership rights among the sons in the house depending on whether the house had 2, 3 or 4... There were houses with only one son, the rest were all sisters, so this brother's role was even greater. No matter how many grandchildren there are, the role of male grandchildren is always emphasized and emphasized. So if one of these people wants to get it back, they have to negotiate with the others (because their father passed away and left behind a will), so some old houses today, although only inhabited by one family, are owned by several siblings. Each house has ancient architectural features, different interior and exterior space layouts such as: Mr. Nguyen Van Hung's house is different from Mr. Ha Huu The's house, Mrs. Lan's house is different from Mr. Ha Nguyen Huyen's house, Mr. Ha Vinh's house, Mr. Nguyen Van Vung's house, both Eastern and Western European (French) appearance, foreign and domestic architecture... In the house's garden, when it is not divided between the children, when getting married or having children, it is also a good environment for the family to grow plants. flowering and fruit trees such as: mango, longan, guava, jackfruit, banana, custard apple, custard apple, pomegranate, grapefruit, star fruit, kumquat... Flowers such as: wood, paper, azalea, azalea, jasmine, galangal, wolf,...spices such as: onions, garlic, chili, chives, ginger, galangal, etc. create bright green colors, four-season fragrance in the space of ancient houses such as: in winter and spring is the faint, sweet scent of osmanthus flowers, in early autumn is the smell of market fruit, the scent of sticky leaves, summer is the red color of lychee bunches and black kumquat bunches under the typical sunshine of the ancient Doai Hamlet region. Among the 97 ancient houses still remaining in the ancient village relics, there are 2 villages with the highest number of ancient houses: Mong Phu and Dong Sang. Some households that own ancient houses have known how to take advantage of it to welcome visitors, creating products and services to serve the needs of domestic and foreign visitors, which have brought quite high results. They kept the ancient space intact, forming service areas to the side, but the assembly and construction methods were also consistent with the general landscape, and collected additional artifacts dating back to customs, beliefs and practices to display in the ancient house space. That further increases the appeal and attracts visitors every time they visit. However, among them there are still many ancient houses that have experienced a long history of being affected by climate and insects, so the wooden structures and other items have been eroded and degraded, requiring conservation and restoration support from government leaders at all levels as well as the initiative of the people - thereby contributing to the work of preserving and promoting the values ​​of ancient village relics in Duong Lam in a sustainable and effective way.

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