Preserving village culture

(Baonghean) - The image of the banyan tree, the ferry, and the communal house yard of the countryside has long permeated the soul of every Nghe An resident. And every time I leave my hometown, what remains in my childhood memories are the times I sat waiting for my mother to return under the banyan tree at the village entrance, the nights with the cool moonlight and wind, secretly following my sister to the communal house yard hoping to enjoy folk songs, the times of sadness when I returned to the sacred place in the quiet sound of the afternoon bell...

Anyone who has had the opportunity to visit Bac Son - Van Dien - Nam Dan can see the ancient features that not every village in Nghe An is lucky enough to have: There are moderate, curved roads shaded by green trees of hawthorn, jackfruit, mango, and rice; there are up to 8 village ponds within a radius of just over 1km, especially Bac Son still preserves a cluster of relics including communal houses, temples, pagodas, and pagoda wells.

Bac Son Cultural Village, Van Dien Commune - Nam Dan.

According to Mr. Bui Ba Dao (80 years old this year), the caretaker of Duc Ong Temple, there are currently 5 relics in the village: Duc Nam Communal House, Duc Son Pagoda, Duc Ong Temple, Thanh Mau Temple and the pagoda well. Each relic has its own architectural style: For example, Nam Son Temple, also known as Duc Ong Temple, is the place to worship General Nam Son - a talented general of Mai Thuc Loan. The temple architecture consists of 2 buildings: the worshiping hall and the sanctuary, arranged in the shape of the letter "Dinh", structured in the style of "gong price" and "front pillar".

The harem is where General Nam Son is worshiped, the worship house is where the community and his soldiers are worshiped and where the ceremony is prepared. Or Duc Son Pagoda, also known as Duc Son Tu, whose common name is Nam Pagoda, was built during the Tran Dynasty - one of the oldest pagodas in Nghe An. In particular, Duc Son Pagoda still preserves the temple bell in the style of the Le Dynasty, a unique set of statues, typical of Vietnamese pagoda statues, a set of Tam The with 3 statues of the same size, similar in style, 1.2m high, sitting on a lotus pedestal made of jackfruit wood, very elaborately.

In addition, 210 wooden blocks of Buddhist scriptures are also preserved here, used to print books to propagate Buddhism. On the surface of the blocks are carved images of Buddha, Bodhisattva and scriptures in Chinese characters. According to researchers, these wood blocks date back to the Nguyen Dynasty during the reign of King Tu Duc... Currently, these relics have all been ranked at the national level. Each relic has its own management board to oversee worship and organize festivals.

Mr. Luong Xuan Son - a resident of Bac Son village excitedly said: “Following the wishes of the people, the relics of the village are becoming more and more beautiful thanks to regular repairs and upgrades with donations and contributions from the people. It is gratifying that last year the pagoda well was restored on the old land. We are still worried because Duc Nam communal house - the place to worship the village's tutelary god is deteriorating, perhaps in the coming time we will have to mobilize the people's strength. Because the sacred beauty of ancient communal houses will be the eternal beauty of a village, of a country and of the Vietnamese people that each of us must be responsible for preserving”.

Saying goodbye to Bac Son in the afternoon bell sound echoing from Duc Son pagoda, we headed to Khanh Trung village (Nghi Khanh) - one of the first cultural villages of Nghi Loc district - which still preserves an ancient village well from long ago.

No one remembers exactly when the village's Mo Phuong well was built, but one thing is certain: that ancient well was the place that provided water for the entire Ngam village (including 4 villages: Khanh Dong, Khanh Thinh, Khanh Trung and Khanh Den) at that time. In the memory of Mr. Vo Manh Khoi (70 years old), a resident of Khanh Trung village: The village well at that time was also a place for young people to meet and date, a place for children to play, because next to the well was an ancient banyan tree.

Phuong Well - Khanh Trung Cultural Village, Nghi Khanh Commune (Nghi Loc).

At the age of 13, Uncle Khoi got up at 2-3am to help his parents carry water because there were fewer people at that time, if he went late he would have to wait in line until noon to get his turn. The well water was clear and cool, making green tea more delicious than using rainwater. The village well was more than 2.5m deep, the diameter of the well surface was from 2.5 to 3m, the well was made entirely of pebbles arranged evenly around the surface, 30-50cm thick, especially, the bottom of the well was paved with a thick wooden board, which still exists today.

Before 1962, the village well provided water for hundreds of households. After 1962, only a few dozen households came to fetch water. By 1971, no one came to fetch water anymore because every household had dug their own well.

Over time, the upper surface of the well became increasingly cracked, the well bed eroded, and trees grew wildly. The villagers of Khanh Trung felt worried when they came and went... In many village meetings, Uncle Khoi - who was then the Party cell secretary - expressed his concerns that the well needed to be restored to preserve the old relics of the village so that future generations could understand what Khanh Trung village was like in the past and how it had developed today. Unexpectedly, his opinion was strongly supported by the villagers.

In 2007, Mr. Khoi mobilized: poor households donated 50,000 VND, wealthy households donated 500,000 VND, 1 million VND, totaling 18 million VND. In mid-2007, the whole Khanh Trung village was bustling as if there was a big festival: Young people, children, and the elderly all came together to restore the village well. In just one week, the village well was restored to its original form: with a solid embankment around it, the well floor was paved with red bricks... In particular, next to the well, a large stele was built with the inscription: Mo Phuong Well Relic.

Through Mr. Tinh - a cultural officer of the commune, we know that Khanh Trung is one of the villages honored to receive the first Cultural Village of Nghi Loc district. In all the movements launched by the district and commune, Khanh Trung has always been an exemplary leader. In 2012, the rate of cultural families in the village reached 94%. Promoting the tradition of studiousness of the village, every year on average 3-4 students pass the university entrance exam. Along with Khanh Trung, currently in Nghi Khanh commune, there are 2 wells in Khanh Tan and Long Dong villages that have also been supported by the people with material and labor costs to restore, returning the beauty of the ancient village culture.

In addition to restoring the village well, in recent years, to meet the spiritual and cultural needs of the people, Nghi Khanh has restored the Cua Temple relic complex and the tomb of General Ninh Ve. The temple was built during the Tran Dynasty to worship Mother Au Co, Cao Son, Cao Cac, Tam Toa Thanh Mau and to worship famous national and local figures such as: Chieu Minh Vuong Tran Quang Khai, General Ninh Ve, Duke Nguyen Canh Que, Confucian scholar Phung Thoi Ta. The temple has 3 buildings: Ha Dien, Trung Dien and Thuong Dien, built in a beautiful location, facing Southeast, on a phoenix-shaped land. Surrounded by villages and densely populated areas. Over time, the temple deteriorated, in 2003, the temple was renovated and rebuilt with local budget and people's contributions. Since 2010, the Cua Temple Festival has been restored and attracted a large number of people and tourists from inside and outside the district to participate. The festival is held annually on the 2nd to 4th of the 3rd lunar month.

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Suu - Chairman of Nghi Khanh Commune People's Committee excitedly said: The policy of building new rural areas is the right policy, in line with the people's wishes with the desire that agricultural and rural life will catch up with urban and city life. However, the life of rural people is different from urban life. When talking about rural areas, there must be pagodas, temples, bamboo groves, pond banks, village wells... Therefore, in the process of building new rural areas, the commune advocates studying each region and each area with different characteristics to both preserve the appearance of the countryside and meet the development needs of other localities in the district and the province.

Mr. Suu's concern is also the goal that many localities in the province are aiming for. "Because no matter what is said, no matter what is done, no matter how much innovation is done, that space, that village must belong to the farmers, be owned by the farmers" - that is the sentiment of Mr. Vuong Truong Thu - Secretary and Head of Bac Son Cultural Village, Van Dien Commune (Nam Dan).

For farmers like Uncle Thu, Mr. Suu, Uncle Khoi, each banyan tree, each communal house yard... are associated with many historical ups and downs of the village, so that in the minds of those who go far away, every time they think about the village, they feel pain, and those who stay feel they need to be more responsible in preserving and promoting it.

Thanh Thuy