The clan ancestral house in Vietnam

There is a sacred place that holds the cultural activities of a family, connects people with people, the past with the present. This is also the origin of everyone. There is a thing containing the historic stories, helping people know their origin. This is an extremely valuable material of not only a family but also a country, a nation. That is the genealogical book and clan ancestral house. This is the house of worship of Nguyen Thac family, an ancient house with more than 300 years of age in Dinh Bang, Tu Son, Bac Ninh.

If the altar is the spiritual angle of each family, the clan ancestral house is the spiritual of an entire family. This is the fulcrum of the spirit of the present and the past, creating the blessings for the descendents. The clan ancestral house is used to worship ancestors, heroes who have contributed to the country in the national history. It is considered as a miniature museum of the clan, so besides the worship space, there is the space to display the photographs, the decree of the ancestors. The big problems of the family are also discussed here.

According to the historic book, the families has the tradition of learning, the clan ancestral house is also used as the teaching aids in the hope that the descendents will study, pass the examinations. Following the ancestor’s example, descendents will use it as the motivation to study, and promote the traditional fondness for learning through many generations.  After hard days studying, the first thing that descendents would do is come to the worship hall in order to burn incense the ancestor and then take the exam. This shows that the clan ancestral house has an important meaning in the mind of every member of clan.

Through the ups and downs of the history, the changing of the time, the clan ancestral house is always a sacred place connecting the past and the present, connecting all members and educating the good tradition of the ancestors for the descendents.

The Bui family in Thinh Liet ward, Hoang Mai district, Hanoi is a big family with a long history. It is preserving the genealogical books with hundreds of year old. Exiting in the parallel along with the development of the family, these genealogies are considered as the treasures preserved, so they are preserved very carefully. These are the valuable documents recording the history, establishment and development of the family and the teachings of the ancestors to the descendents later.

The death anniversaries are occasions for every member in the family to read the genealogical books and learn more about their origin.

The genealogy of each family is an important material providing the next generations much precious information. Therefore, the genealogical books are known as jade genealogy. Through the genealogy, people will know who the ancestor is the process of establishment and development of the family from generation to other generations. The genealogy helps us knowing the hierarchy in the family to know the call and behavior.

In addition, this is the messages of the ancestors leaving the descendents to follow and promote the tradition of the family. Historically, our grandparents always think that there is no better thing to educate descendents than teaching the history of the nation, the country and the family. The morality, personality of Vietnamese people originating from the teachings of the sages and ancestors summed up in the genealogy and passed through many generations. This will be the example for the descendents.

Mentioning the culture of family is mentioning a deep problem in the mind of everybody. It is the most scared thing when learning about the origin.

Source: VTV2 –VTV.vn