Yen Phu communal house festival is a historical and cultural vestige which is listed in national vestiges since 1986. This is the only communal house in Hanoi to be built in the later half of 17th century. The communal house is not built like others. There is a gold inlaid palanquin in the house and the stele since Le Gia Tong (1672 – 1675) era. The big and beautiful house of a peninsula in West Lake of Hanoi looks back to the water. In 2003, the house is restored.
The festival of Yen Phu was hold in the 10th of second lunar month and it was said to keep the old disciplines of Hanoi’s festival.
The festival is also joined by the people in every area around West Lake like Nghi Tam, Tu Lien, Nhat Tan, etc and it has a united relation from Thanh Cu village, Kim Thi district, Hung Yen.
Since 9th of second lunar month, people do the ritual of Moc Duc (Washing statues). That is to process the palanquin from Communal house to Tran Quoc pagoda to get water to wash the statue. The palanquin was processed on the narrow streets before but now they are on the wide streets on Yen Phu, Thanh Nien. The palanquin is carried by four strong young men wearing long dress. There are two other big palanquins carried by 16 strong men followed by the elderly and octets.
After getting the pure water from Tran Quoc pagoda, the festival organized the ceremonies and game activities. The festival is lasted over the 10th of second lunar month. Yen Phu communal house festival was a solemn and traditional cultural beauty of Vietnam still maintained and preserved.
