Changes in the land of 'cucumbers'

A corner of Cam Thai village. Photo: Quoc Son

Bringing the "wind god" to Cam Thai

“In the past, people called us “melon people”. That was both a compliment and a criticism.

Praise is to praise the hard-working, diligent, and hardworking people. In the harsh June sun, they still work hard to water and take care of the plants to produce delicious melons (cabbage - PV), off-season melons - a specialty of our village that no other place can make, helping many generations of Cam Thai villagers to study and become successful.

But because of being too frugal and thrifty: Selling the best part of the melon, only keeping the melon core for himself to eat, people think that our villagers are stingy and miserly...". I came across these status lines on the personal Facebook page of Mr. Nguyen Huu Nghia when talking about the land of Cam Thai, Dai Dong commune, Thanh Chuong district.

Cam Thai people enjoy performing arts at the village festival. Photo: Nguyen Thanh Xuan

Picking up the phone, the eldest brother smiled: "In the past, people used to call my hometown "cucumber people", also to talk about a land that suffered many harsh and difficult conditions. But now Cam Thai village is changing. Changing from the way of thinking and doing of the people, especially many young people born on this land". Mr. Nguyen Huu Nghia also said that in recent days, people in Cam Thai village have called each other to plant wind chimes around the village. Mr. Nghia bought 400 wind chimes from Hung Temple, Phu Tho province to create a highlight for the village located on the left bank of Lam River. According to Mr. Nghia, wind chimes bloom with beautiful yellow flowers in spring. He also explained that "wind chimes" are the god of wind. “When we talk about wind, we think of things that are airy, cool, gentle, elegant, but also very majestic and brave. And the people of the wind spirit - children of the wind god, will be people with virtue, talent, intelligence and bravery, open-minded, hospitable, gentle, elegant, noble, dynamic, fast as the wind and generous in opening their wallets to invest in their homeland. Hey, the children of Cam Thai village who are far away from home and have been successful in business, come back and bring both intelligence and strength to help our Cam Thai village take off!”

The wind chime tree was brought back from Phu Tho province by Mr. Nguyen Huu Nghia. Photo: Huu Nghia

I thought: There was a bit of "feng shui - spiritualism" in choosing the wind chime tree to change the "melon" land that Mr. Nguyen Huu Nghia did. However, after finding out, it was not like that. Mr. Nghia not only sponsored his Cam Thai village to plant 400 new wind chime trees and the banyan tree species originating from Taiwan, but in recent years he has also sponsored the upgrading, embellishment and construction of the Van Thanh house and the village communal house. Currently, he is continuing to sponsor the village to build a cemetery, renovate and build a lotus pond in front of the Van Thanh house, etc. "The purpose is nothing other than to change the homeland, to make Cam Thai land still retain its traditional identity, and become richer and more livable" - Mr. Nguyen Huu Nghia said.

Cam Thai people plant wind chimes. Photo: Nguyen Huu Nghia

The Holy House of Literature and Cam Thai communal house. Photo: Quoc Son

Cam Thai has changed

The Lam River flows from upstream to Dai Dong commune (now Dai Dong commune, Thanh Chuong district) creating a crescent-shaped silk strip embracing a land area of ​​nearly 16,000 km2.².

Cam Thai village's art troupe with the program "Living forever the soul of the countryside" during the village festival. Photo: Nguyen Thanh Xuan

In fact, Dai Dong commune was re-established since December 2020. Before that, there were 3 separate communes: Thanh Tuong, Thanh Van and Thanh Hung. Seen from above, the Lam River flowing to Thuan Son commune (Do Luong) through Rang market to Dai Dong commune has created the shape of a pair of breasts. Cam Thai village is a piece of land jutting out into the riverbank on the left breast. The village used to be called Bau Sen and from this village of only 36 hectares, many writers and talented people were born for Dai Dong homeland.

According to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Xuan - former Secretary of Cam Thai Party Cell, currently an officer of Thanh Chuong District People's Committee Office, Cam Thai village was established in the 15th century by two brothers Nguyen Bien and Nguyen Van Tau. These two people are also considered the tutelary gods of Cam Thai village.

Among the famous children of Cam Thai, we can mention Dr. Nguyen Huu Dien, born in 1825. He passed the Tam Giap Dong Tien Si exam in 1853. He was the 9th generation descendant of the Minister of War, Duke Nguyen Huu Trac, under the Later Le Dynasty. His father was the District Chief of Thien Thi District, Nguyen Huu Bich.

Cam Thai village festival. Photo: Quoc Son

In the 9th year of Tu Duc, Nguyen Huu Dien was appointed as the District Chief of Binh Giang (Hai Duong). Thanks to his profound knowledge, deep understanding of life and morality, and honest nature, after only a short time, he contributed to bringing peace and prosperity to the lives of the local people.

While Nguyen Huu Dien's career was developing well, the French colonialists came. He called on the people to gather forces to repel the enemy and he sacrificed his life at Bai Dau, Hung Yen province.

When he was alive, Mr. Nguyen Huu Dien was also known as a person with great affection and responsibility for his homeland. In 1828, he and his father contributed to building the Van Thanh House (locals still call it the Holy House) in Cam Thai village. The Holy House is a place to honor learning and morality according to Confucian philosophy. Dr. Nguyen Huu Dien also donated 3 communal houses to the village to make the central hall of the Holy House. This was a gift from the commune when he passed the doctoral exam. The Van Thanh relic complex and the village communal house have now been recognized as a provincial historical relic. About 300m away, Nguyen Huu Dien's church is also recognized as a provincial historical relic. Not only that, during the resistance wars to save the country, Cam Thai village had 68 children sacrificed. Currently, in the area of ​​the Holy House - village communal house, people have built a stele to record the names of the village's children who "lived heroically and died gloriously". This is also the pride of the people of Cam Thai village.

Continuing the village tradition, for many years now, Cam Thai people have been constantly striving to improve. The village currently has 294 households with 1,285 people. The villagers are still attached to agriculture, rice, however, labor and production activities are no longer manual and rely on hands and feet as before. Instead, people have applied science, technology and mechanization in agriculture. In addition to growing corn, rice, raising large cattle and poultry, Cam Thai village is also famous for winter vegetables. Thanks to this third crop, people have more income and improve their lives. In addition, more and more Cam Thai people leave their hometown to do business and start a career. According to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Xuan, up to 2/3 of Cam Thai villagers leave their hometown to study and work. They work in factories and companies in the South and the North and work as workers in factories and enterprises in the province and district. Every year, there are 15-16 Cam Thai people participating in the foreign labor market. Thanks to that dynamism, up to now Cam Thai village has only 1 poor household and 1 near-poor household, the rest are well-off and rich.

The homeland has changed a lot, the land and people of Cam Thai have also changed. This year, the Cam Thai village festival (16th October of the lunar calendar) is very big and very happy.