Traveling along National Road 51 heading for the coastal city
of Vung Tau, visitors can catch sight of an intersection on their right
hand side laid eight kilometers from the greeting gate of the city. It
is the entrance to the commune on Long Son Island where the complex of
relic Nha Lon (large house) Long Son, the home of Ong Tran religion, is
situated.
Nha Lon - Cultural relic in Long Son Island
Long Son Commune sits on Nua Mountain, located next to Ganh Rai Bay and
to the south of Sac Forest. Nha Lon Long Son was created by a man
nicknamed Tran, whose real name was Le Van Muu, a follower of An
Giang-based Tu An Hieu Nghia religion. He come to the region and set up
the house in the beginning of the 20th century.The house was built
on an area of two hectares and includes a temple, a place to celebrate
festivals with a school, a market, a Ghe Sam preserving house, and Ong
Tran’s graveyard. Nha Lon is a place to worship great men of Taoism,
Confucianism, Ong Tran and his relatives of the Le Family. Every year
on the birthday of Ong Tran (Lunar February 20) and on Trung Cuu
(double nine) day (Lunar September 9), Nha Lon Long Son organize a
festival that attracts tens of thousands of people from the Mekong
Delta and HCMC’s neighboring provinces and cities. People from the
province of Tien Giang give a gift of 1,000 bushel of rice to the
organizer of the festival and receive 18 tons of salt in return. The
design of Nha Lon strictly follows traditional architecture with all
wooden components and details. Though time has passed, Nha Lon keeps
its original features. The Ong Lon religion is a mixture of many
traditional religions without any prayer book, instruments, vegetarian
rule or any superstitions, only the oral teachings passed from
generations to generations remain. For those who cannot come to the
place on those festive days, a visit on Lunar December 21 will bring
them a surprise: they can see old men in traditional costumes write
Chinese characters on scrolls. This traditional image can rarely be
seen elsewhere in the country. Those followers of Ong Tran in Long
Son still follow a basic habit of wearing black ba ba costume (kind of
shirt used by South Vietnamese people), walking on bear feet and
keeping their hair inside buns. They also follow a strict daily routine
to cook and offer food to worship and clean in the temple. They
consider Nha Lon their sacred common house to be preserved. The
locals still preserve the traditional positive characters of honesty
and hospitality of the Southern people, for they always invite visitors
to Nha Lon for free meals. Those meals are used first to worship and
are simple, but still delicious. Visitors also have a chance to taste
other specialties at Long Son.
