Go to Nghe An

Country well...a piece of village soul

Tien Dong • November 8, 2024 14:57

"How many people have gone far away/How many people still stay/The well is still clear forever/Like the love of my homeland"... I keep humming the poignant lyrics of the song "Homeland Well" by the late musician Thuan Yen every time I come across a countryside well in the sunny and windy land of Nghe An...

1.

I have visited Sen village (Kim Lien commune, Nam Dan) many times. Every time, the familiar, simple and profound emotions come flooding back when nestled next to Coc well, right next to the house of Mr. Pho Bang Nguyen Sinh Sac.

According to legend, this well was dug by Mr. Nguyen Danh Coc from Phu Dam village (also known as Phu Dam), Chung Cu commune, Lam Thinh canton (now Sen 2 hamlet, Kim Lien commune) around 1708 to get water for his family. Later, it became the village's common well.

When Nguyen Sinh Sac passed the Pho Bang exam in 1901, his whole family moved from Hoang Tru village to Sen village to live in a house built by the village as a way to celebrate the achievement of a person who passed the exam with high marks and brought glory to the village. The house is located about 100m from Coc well on the right side.

When he was a child, President Ho Chi Minh and his sisters often went to Coc well to get water for their family. On June 16, 1957, President Ho Chi Minh returned to his hometown for the first time. After walking from the Vice-Chancellor's house to the alley, recalling old memories, he asked the villagers: "Is Coc well still there? The water from Coc well is clear and sweet, making green tea and soy sauce famous throughout the region!"

Right at the entrance of Sen 2 village gate, there is Phu Dam well (old village name), ancient, restored in 2013. Phu Dam village is also the birthplace of the Nguyen Sinh family, the restoration of the ancient well, along with the system of landscape relics associated with Kim Lien Relic Site has contributed to enriching the cultural values ​​of this land.

In Kim Lien today, along with the movement to restore village gates, the village wells in many places have also been embellished and preserved by the people, becoming places to anchor memories. Currently, in 12 hamlets in the entire Kim Lien commune, almost every hamlet has an ancient well. There are hamlets with 2 or 3 ancient wells, attached to the old village after the merger. These are Phuong Doai well; Dinh well; Chua well; or Trot Quan well, which was newly restored in 2021...

Besides Kim Lien commune, Trung Phuc Cuong commune is probably the locality that "owns" the most ancient wells in Nam Dan land. This land is also the origin of many cultural families, with many people who achieved high degrees during the feudal period. Coincidentally, the villages of Trung Can, Dong Chau (old Nam Trung) and Dong Vien (old Nam Phuc) have a nearly symmetrical terrain on the North - South axis with Sen village in Kim Lien commune separating the Lam river. In this land, there are also many famous ancient wells, associated with the history of hundreds of years of village establishment, such as Vung well, Chua well, Duong Quan well...

I could not stop myself from going to Vung well. This is one of the oldest wells in Vung hamlet, Trung Can village. It was dug by the people long ago to get water for daily use. In 2020, this well was restored by the children of the hometown, becoming a symbol of the bond between the village and the neighborhood, and between the children who are far away and their homeland.

Mr. Nguyen Duy Son - a resident of Vung Chua hamlet (Trung Phuc Cuong commune) shared: Since ancient times, people have heard stories about Vung well. In front of the well, it was made of earth with a high earthen wall to prevent water from overflowing from the fields. On the bank, there was a bridge made of ironwood for people to go down to draw water. Now restored, Vung well was built and assembled with many different types of stones of quite large sizes. In particular, the well bank was assembled with laterite from Ha Tay, the well wall was made of Ninh Binh green stone. The diameter of the well wall is 14m, the diameter of the well bottom is more than 7m, the depth is 5.5m. The well has a door in the East with many steps up and down, nestled next to an ancient banyan tree.

Since its restoration, Vung well has become a place for villagers to participate in cultural activities, a place where children far from home gather. It is a place where fire breaks out every time the New Year's Eve passes.

2.

A friend who works in the cultural sector in Dien Chau district bragged to me that, when it comes to ancient wells, Dien Chau district probably has the most remaining. Of these, there are about 85 wells that can still be counted. On average, each commune has 5 to 7 wells that are hundreds of years old. That means there are ancient wells that only remain in memory after the vicissitudes of history, buried under the sediments of the times.

I returned to Trung Hau village, Dien Hoa commune (Dien Chau), as a way to verify what my friend said. There is still an ancient well here.Dr. Thai Doan Nguyen built the well in the mid-18th century, when he came here to open a hamlet and establish a village. After nearly 300 years, the well has never dried up, becoming a source of cool water for the daily life of the people in the area.

About 10 years ago, the villagers contributed their time and money to restore the well. Many families still use the village well water for drinking, cooking wine, and making delicious noodles that are famous in the area.Respecting the source left by the ancients, every time Tet comes, people go to the well to get water to wash the worshiping objects with the hope of washing away all bad luck and welcoming a peaceful new year.

“

This ancient well is very sacred and has never dried up, even on a summer afternoon in June. In the past, when the American invaders were fiercely attacking the North, the surrounding area was full of bomb craters, but the village well was not hit...

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Cuong - lives next to the well in Trung Hau village

Nowadays, in Dien Hoa commune, Trung Hau village has merged with Truong Khe village, the birthplace of the multi-talented poet Nguyen Trong Tao, to form Trung Truong village. I am not sure whether the memories of moonlit nights by the village well prompted poet Nguyen to write the dreamy verses in the poem "Moon" published in 1968.

“

Full moon night I carry water
The moon swims at the bottom of the well
The moon smiles and shakes the blue water
Nod as if to invite

I carry two buckets of water
Ah! Carrying the moon and sky
Just a moon rising
Why one pair in the box?

Poet Nguyen Trong Tao

Strangely, in the land of Dien Chau, the countryside with many ancient wells that I set foot on, more or less glimpsed the giant trees in literature. Not far from Dien Hoa commune to the southwest is Trung Phuong village, the old Dien Minh commune, now Minh Chau commune, the hometown of the poet "Visiting Rice" - Tran Huu Thung.

Right at the beginning of Trung Phuong village, I saw an ancient well called Vang well, which was recently restored. The well has a mouth more than 20m wide, next to it is a small well that helps the water settle down to make it more convenient for the people to carry water.

From above, Vang well, together with Hai Vai and Ho Linh (where Co Am pagoda is located), form a symmetrical triangle. The "old" Dien Minh commune had two villages, Trung Phuong and Phu Lam, located on either side of Ho Linh.

The people of Trung Phuong village also recounted that, according to legend, long ago, two men from the North came to this land to settle down, together building a crowded and prosperous village. After coming to found the village, they contributed their labor and money to dig a well right on the road leading to the village, both to get water for daily use and to suppress the dragon vein. Later, the two men were honored as Thanh Hoang of the village. They helped and loved each other with the villagers "to fight internal and external enemies", so they were called "Tuong Phung" which was later translated as "Trung Phuong". Some people believe that in the past, there was Len market here, which was the trading center of the region, many guilds and trading associations gathered, so it was called "Trung Phuong".

Mr. Thai Huy Toan - Head of the Front Work Committee of Trung Phuong village said: According to the elders in the village, Vang well in Trung Phuong village has existed for more than 700 years. The water here is always clear and full regardless of the season. Because it is located at the beginning of the village, children who live far away or local people when returning from the fields come to the well, use a bucket to scoop water to wash their faces.

"As society developed, the movement of building wells and drilled wells for each household became popular, and village wells became a thing of the past, at times being damaged and silted up. Five years ago, along with the new rural construction movement, local children contributed money to restore Vang well. Helping Vang well become a symbol of the village. So that anyone who goes far away will always remember it," Mr. Toan shared.

3.

In the past, my village also had a communal well. At first, the well was dug and built with earth, in the shape of a basin located near the outside of the field, where the water source was the cleanest. Gradually, the villagers gathered stones around the well to prevent erosion and to make it easier to "examine the well" - dredge, after a few years. When I was a child, every afternoon I followed my grandmother and mother to the well to fetch water. Next to the steel hooks were two aluminum barrels made from flare shells that the Americans threw down. Every afternoon, carrying two full jars to the corner of the house was enough for a day. Gradually, each house also dug a well, then had well water, and some places even had clean water pipes connected for use. However, the village well water was still the sweet, cool water that flowed in my memory.

The ancients believed that digging a well meant digging into a dragon vein, so each well had a guardian deity to protect the peace of the villagers. Many village wells were also placed next to incense bowls and altars to worship the village guardian spirit and the local god. Usually, on the first day of the month, the full moon day or when the village had something to pray for, the villagers would come to burn incense and place offerings at these altars. Aware of the sacredness of the well, of the source that their ancestors had left, generations of villagers were always conscious of preserving the village wells.

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Sau (86 years old), in Trung Phuong village, Minh Chau commune (Dien Chau) shared: The ancients believed that each well had a different shape. A square well symbolized mother earth, a round well symbolized the sky and an oval well symbolized people. In the past, to dig a village well, the dignitaries in the village often mobilized the villagers to do it. The person chosen to dig the well had to be a young man, with a warm and harmonious family. The location of the well had to be in accordance with the feng shui dragon vein.

Along with the banyan tree and the communal house yard, the well has become a cultural symbol of each village, not only in Nghe An but also in the whole of Vietnam. The village well is a place for cultural activities of local people. It is a place where young men and women get married. It is a place that witnesses many happy and sad memories, ups and downs of the villagers from generation to generation. It is a testament to history and culture.

Coming back to the ancient wells in Nghe An, I can fully feel the sentiments of poet Nguyen Trong Tao in "The Soul of the Village" that: "I call the well the soul of the village. The soul of the village never runs dry, it is forever full to share with every family during the dry season. I wish my soul would always be cool, sweet and full like the water in my village's well...".