Ancient Tea Festival

Until next time, the people of Tra Co Mong Cai and the people of Tra Co living in all regions these days are bustling and excitedly waiting for the reunion at the village communal house festival on June 1 of the lunar calendar - a festival celebrated recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage.

According to history books, Tra Co communal house is associated with the legend "Tra Co people, Do Son ancestors". According to legend, in 1461, people working as fishermen from Do Son land (in present-day Hai Phong) often went with their families to earn a living in many remote sea areas, all the way to the estuary region (in Tra Co, Mong Cai today). During a storm, twelve families drifted onto a deserted peninsula with only tiger parrots and reeds. Unable to bear the hardships, six families returned to their old hometown, the remaining six families determined to cling to the land and build a new countryside. Initially just six simple houses, it gradually became a prosperous village. Like many other villages, Tra Co communal house at that time was built by people contributing their money and contributions. After that, local people returned to their old hometown to ask for the feet of the village's tutelary gods to worship at Dinh (Khong Lo, Giac Hai, Nhan Minh, Huyen Quoc, Quang Trach). In addition, this is also the place to worship the six pioneers who made public discoveries and established the ancient Tra Co land.

Since then, Tra Co communal house has undergone many major restorations. The most recent restoration was in 2012. The current communal house is built on a land area of ​​more than 1,000 m2, facing south, with nail-shaped architecture, including 05 rooms, 02 altars and 03 harem rooms, ending in 2012. Traditional wooden architecture. The entire structure is constructed using wooden frames and interconnected by mortise dowels. The communal house is a majestic ancient structure, with a tiled roof and four curved corners like a boat sailing out to sea. In particular, the truss panels show strong, sophisticated, and vivid carvings. Rich themes include engravings of dragons rolling water and phoenixes flying, tigers stalking prey among flowers and leaves... Each engraving is a unique work of art. This is considered one of the communal houses with massive scale and unique architecture in the Northern Delta region.