"Fate" Muong Choong

(Baonghean) - Rain and sunshine mixed together, making the mountains and forests cheerfully turn green with fresh grass and trees. But perhaps it was because Muong Choong was also bustling with the jubilant atmosphere of the Thai people here welcoming the Independence Day on September 2nd; even though we had heard a lot, we still wanted to go and see "just to know"...

Choong Temple, Chau Ly, Quy Hop, early stage of restoration

Sometimes, life is truly in the word "fate" - fate of the land, fate of people. That fate has "attracted" us to visit Muong Choong - Quy Hop, the land of history, legends and sparkling legends, which is being continued, continued with what is happening today. Quy Hop is a national cultural district, if outside the town there is Thung May lake, calm all year round, evocative, beautiful like a "beauty's face"; then in the deep area there is Choong temple which is being restored majestically and sacredly on the top of Pu Den - Chau Ly where the legend of Nang Phom Hom (the girl with fragrant hair) associated with the feat of Lam Son insurgents is reviving the spiritual and cultural life, awakening the history of a Muong area once considered the cultural center of the Thai people in the Northwest of Nghe An. That land, vibrant with the Thai culture, is also famous for its loyalty and loyalty to the revolution... I remember, when writing about Le Thuy district - Quang Binh of General Vo Nguyen Giap, a famous writer affirmed that this is the only district in the country where the whole people celebrate Independence Day as enthusiastically as Tet Nguyen Dan; it can also be said that the Thai people of Muong Choong are also the only region in the Northwest of Nghe An that has the tradition of the whole people celebrating Independence Day as grandly as the traditional Tet.

Chau Ly, Bac Son, Nam Son and a part of Chau Dinh of Quy Hop are the lands of Muong Choong. I have also been to Muong Choong many times, my work as a journalist revolves around programs and projects for the highlands and ethnic minorities. The traffic is open, the villages are bustling to welcome the title of cultural unit, organizing new business models to exploit the advantages of forest land... And there, I met an active collaborator for many years of Nghe An Newspaper, who contributed significantly to the fact that today Choong Temple is gradually restoring its tangible and intangible values. That is also the "fate".

Nearly 600 years old, Choong Temple has been through several decades of "turmoil" since the temple was the most influential temple in the Northwest Muong of Nghe An, with a majestic scale with only a few stone pillars remaining, now in a project of investing tens of billions of dong to restore and renovate, as if it were a new legend. Suddenly thinking, the ups and downs of the cultural and spiritual value of a relic, each time its true value is restored, it multiplies the direction of goodness and the heart. Choong Temple, which has been majestic for hundreds of years in the Thai ethnic village associated with the indigenous culture, when the ruins are gone, the incense smoke from the heart of the young couple who came here to make a living began to be traced.

The newspaper's contributor, Cao - Cao Duy Thai, from Hung Nhan - Hung Nguyen, followed his mother to the new economic zone in Chau Ly since he was young. After many years of struggling with the cultural movement of the remote commune, he is now the Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of the commune, and has long been considered by the Thai people here as "our people". After high school, he left his fields to study culture, became a member of the commune's cultural committee, and married a Kinh woman who was also a commercial employee in the remote area. Life in the new countryside was full of hardships and suffering, but the couple always tried to overcome difficulties, including sending spiritual support, expressing their nostalgia for their old homeland by quietly wading through streams on the full moon and new moon days and traditional New Year's Day, cutting through forest leaves to the top of Pu Den to burn incense at the temple's vestiges... Respectfully and sincerely for ten years like that, he then created the website "Muong Choong - a sacred mountain realm", attracting more than 55,000 readers; The land, people and culture of Thai Muong Choong attracted him tremendously. Encouraged by the local people and leaders, he rewrote the history of Choong temple and the results of the temple restoration up to now are truly unexpected! Isn't that also a fate?

Cao Duy Thai said: Muong Choong means “hospitable land”. Oh, the Deputy Secretary of the commune’s house is bustling with people coming and going today, celebrating Independence Day early, right? It’s only the morning of the first day? Thai said enthusiastically: “The brothers in the commune heard that my family had guests from afar coming to visit, so they gathered to “visit” with wine!”. Buffalo meat, chicken, boiled dishes, mot dishes… and wine brewed from sticky rice and forest firewood were already passionate, but still could not compare to the “deep visit” of a firm handshake after each greeting, each empty cup. If Chau Ly Commune Chairman Vi Van Quanh had not been busy going to Choong Temple to check on preparations for tomorrow’s Independence Day so that people and pilgrims could come to the temple to worship, then perhaps that welcoming ceremony would have lasted until the afternoon New Year’s worship ceremony.

Huoi Vang Co, Pu Canh Ve, Tham Ong Hau, Don Kho, Don Cho, Vang Mo Khung... the streams where Nang Phom Hom taught people to raise silkworms, dry their hair waiting for her husband, the talented Lam Son general, the secret caves, the military food fields where Lam Son's insurgents gathered to train to march to the Southwest to carry out the battle of "Tra Lan bamboo splits and ash flies" in the deep afternoon of this rain forest, seem to gather spiritual energy at Pu Den - the sacred Choong Temple. Which tree is the tallest Khua tree in the Muong? Where is the bronze drum placed, the command drum of the ancient Lam Son insurgents, once carried from Tham Coong mountain cave in Den village to the temple during the Luc Ngoat Ram festival in June every year?... I counted my steps up 131 white stone steps to the temple where the main altar has been restored with a new statue of Nang Phom Hom. Standing on the top of Pu Den, looking at the whole Muong Choong area, from Chau Ly to Bac Son, Nam Son, Chau Dinh, the vast green mountains, embracing the renovated villages, the red flags decorated with bright "revolutionary flowers" in front of the gates, on the roofs of the stilt houses. Is it because of the Lam Son uprising and the events of the dynasties that followed, that in Muong Choong, in addition to the "pure Thai" families such as Vi, Luong, Lo... there are also Mac, Truong, Nguyen families? But no matter, every family now maintains a custom, a Thai culture. And, the joy of Independence Day is truly a holiday that resonates with the traditions of the Muong Choong people, and now there is the joy of gathering to offer incense at Choong - Pu Den temple.

Mac Van Xui - Chau Ly commune's finance officer said that since yesterday and early morning, the villages have slaughtered buffaloes and pigs, waiting for their children and grandchildren to come back in droves to celebrate the Independence Day starting this afternoon. Very bustling and exciting! So Muong Choong has two sacred Tets a year. We braved the rain to go to Vi village - Bac Son, a pure Thai village preserved at the national level. The house of Village Chief Vi Van Luong was bustling with children, grandchildren, daughters-in-law, sons-in-law, students, teachers... slaughtering chickens and ducks to make a Thai specialty dish called "moc moc" that if you have eaten it once, your mouth will water the next time you mention it! It's simple, just remove all the chicken and duck breasts, chop the rest with wild banana core, add spices, of course, not lacking the flavor of "moc-khen" (wild pepper), wrap them in wild banana leaves and steam them, "killing" the sense of smell and taste. Village Chief Vi kept begging the guests to stay, we would open the jar of watercress, display the dish of moc moc to celebrate Independence Day. But there is still the formal ceremony to worship ancestors, so please wait a bit. Oh, just light the incense stick to make it fragrant, sound the gong to make people intoxicated, then "visit" each other with a cup of sticky rice wine. Warm handshakes, sincere wishes, the sound of loudspeakers singing to celebrate Independence Day from the village cultural house has stirred the afternoon mist, wondering why they let go of the excitement to prolong the village joy all night, all day tomorrow.

The Vi - Bac Son village will have the main worship tomorrow. The Con - Chau Ly village will have the worship this afternoon. On the village paths, men (no women allowed) carry small trays of sticky rice, chicken, pork or fish (but not buffalo meat) to the family temples to worship. The family temples, whether Hun Vi or Quan Vi... are all the same, built of cement or wood, all have a small structure, with an altar hanging across four pillars, with a roof resembling a stilt house, built in the corner of the garden. The square floor, less than one square meter, can sometimes hold dozens of trays of offerings, if the family has many people, the trays of offerings must be placed on the ground. It was only a few years since the church was built, each family used to choose an old tree to display the worship. Now the forest is sparse, the old trees are gone... The father of the Chairman of Chau Ly commune - Vi Van Quanh, the head of a family, dressed neatly, waved his hand to signal his children and grandchildren to be quiet, then cleared his throat and prayed. Chairman Quanh roughly translated the meaning as "on the occasion of Independence Day, I pray that our ancestors will bless us and our children with good health, smooth business, good education, good work... to maintain our ancestors' traditions, contributing to building our village and country to be strong and lasting..." After the offering, the children and grandchildren come to pay their respects, then everyone goes home to prepare the offering at their own house. Then, waiting for relatives from far away to gather, we will set down the food, open the jars, hang up the gongs and drums to play the rhythm... the fun begins until the jars have faded, the joy is still passionate until the next watch. And on the exact day of September 2, the newly-consecrated village will be bustling with visits to each other's houses, going to the yard to enjoy the art and sports festival, and cannot help but go to the Choong temple to offer incense!

The locals kept asking us to stay, Muong Choong had just started the New Year festival! We had not yet fully enjoyed the Independence Day in the “hospitable Muong”, but we were already drunk on the wine, had a stomach full of sticky rice with wild banana leaf-wrapped meatballs, and brought with us the echoes of the gongs of Choong temple and the legend of Toc Thom - the talented and beautiful Thai girl who is being told forever in every stilt house. We returned to the lowlands at night to celebrate the Independence Day in the city; lingering over Muong Choong with its traditional culture and unique Independence Day celebrations...

Notes:Sam Temple