The story of the 130-year-old jackfruit tree in Uncle Ho's maternal hometown

The house of Mr. Hoang Xuan Duong (Uncle Ho's maternal grandfather). Photo: Quoc Son

It is a honey jackfruit tree, with a rather large trunk and rough roots. The tree shaded a corner of the house and also the front yard of the Hoang Xuan family temple. Every time the jackfruit was ripe and fragrant, we often picked it and offered it to the altar to worship the ancestors of the Hoang Xuan family and Uncle Ho's grandparents with deep gratitude. In recent years, the tree has aged, the fruit has become sparse and there are seasons when the tree no longer bears fruit. The trunk has gradually rotted, the leaves have become fewer and fewer. The Management Board of the Kim Lien National Special Historical Site has invited many plant experts to find a way to fix it and preserve the old jackfruit tree, but they have not been able to save it.

Jackfruit tree when it was still alive. Photo: Archive

As of April 2020, according to the relic records kept at the Kim Lien National Special Historical Site, this jackfruit tree is over 130 years old, meaning it was there before Uncle Ho was born (1890). This is also the only tree remaining from the time Uncle Ho was alive. During the time Uncle Ho lived in Hoang Tru land with his grandparents, parents, siblings and aunt An (Hoang Thi An - sister of Mrs. Hoang Thi Loan), Uncle Ho often played and chatted with his siblings under the jackfruit tree behind the main house. A peaceful, cool space preserves the sweet memories of Uncle Ho's childhood.

The house where Uncle Ho and his brothers and sisters were born and spent their childhood years with their grandparents. Photo: Quoc Son

In 1961, for the first time after more than half a century of leaving to find a way to save the country, Uncle Ho returned to his maternal hometown, burned incense for his grandparents and ancestors, visited the souvenirs in his grandfather's and grandmother's house and his family's, childhood memories flooded back to him. He was very surprised to see that his grandfather's and grandmother's jackfruit tree was still there, and he was moved to say:"Is grandma's old jackfruit tree still here?"“This tree used to have many fruit segments, thin flesh but very sweet.”He clearly remembers the sweet taste of the precious jackfruit tree, remembers his childhood attached to the peaceful garden.

Uncle Ho visited his homeland for the first time in 1957. Photo archive

Over time, the large trunk of the jackfruit tree broke, and the trunk that people still see today is its new shoot growing up.

Not as majestic as many other old trees, the jackfruit tree stands alone in the corner of the garden behind Mr. Hoang Xuan Duong's house. Its roots and branches are gentle, small and very familiar. I don't know how many times I have introduced it to the admiration, interest, curiosity and affection of visitors. I don't know if it's too much when I feel like this "jackfruit tree" is a very respectable old friend. He stood there, silently and listened to us tell stories about Uncle Ho's family, sometimes about life's confidences, the secret secrets of a youth. Sharing and sympathizing with us on hot summer days, with the scorching Lao winds. Someone once said: "Silence is also a wordless language" - it can be said that it is a sweet feeling that not everyone can feel. Perhaps because I love it so much, I think of "jackfruit tree" like that.

I think, in our lives, familiar things are always an important part of memories and nostalgia. Yet I have often seen the “old jackfruit” for the past 15 years. Now that presence is no longer there, I feel that the scorching summer days are no longer soothed by the leaves of the old jackfruit tree. There is a feeling of regret and sadness. A feeling of nostalgia and regret that never ceases every time I stand at the place where the “old jackfruit” sprouted, sprouted, grew, spread shade, and offered sweet fruit to life.

After death, the jackfruit tree's stump was carefully preserved by the Kim Lien Relic Site Management Board to serve tourists. Photo: Quoc Son

The remains of the jackfruit tree. Photo: Quoc Son

Birth and death, life and death are the laws of nature, grass, trees, flowers and leaves also have their own lifespan. In February 2020, the jackfruit tree died. Thus, the tree had lived for more than 130 years, this period of time is not short, but what everyone has been attached to still wants to hold on to forever. And there is one very special thing, which makes us - those who have been working at the Kim Lien National Historical Site extremely surprised and extremely happy, that is, right at the old jackfruit tree that had just withered, a small jackfruit tree grew. Everyone tried to take care of the newly grown jackfruit tree with the hope that it would stay green, sprout, bloom and bear fruit.

Right at the location where the old jackfruit tree once stood, a new jackfruit tree has grown. Photo: Quoc Son

The young jackfruit tree grows in the exact place where the old jackfruit tree used to be. Photo: Quoc Son

Everyone hopes that the "descendants" of the ancient jackfruit tree will flourish and provide shade for life. Photo: Quoc Son

After the jackfruit tree withered, the Management Board of Kim Lien Relic Site dug up the original tree and placed it next to the altar of the Hoang Xuan family, right behind the main house of Mr. Hoang Xuan Duong. And no matter how much time passes, generations of descendants will remember the jackfruit tree as a witness to the birth cry of the boy Nguyen Sinh Cung, the jackfruit tree also witnessed and followed the growth of the poor student Nguyen Tat Thanh; witnessed the formation of a great personality of the homeland and country - the personality of Ho Chi Minh, who made Vietnam's mountains and rivers shine./.