Duties and rights: Collective official positions in sacrificial activities at Vietnam’s medieval villages

Abstract

Worshiping rites are popular activities in Vietnamese villages. To maintain this performance, cooperative duties of community members were required. Villages and communes have issued specific regulations on the responsibilities and rights of officials who contribute energy and/or money to the rites. This article explores the responsibilities and rights, reward and punishments (if any) for villages’ collective official groups (committees, guilds, and orders) through a number of Sino-Nom customary documents.