Preserving village culture

(Baonghean) -Building a new countryside is a correct policy, in line with the people's wishes, because with the industrialization and modernization of agriculture, the life of the people in the new countryside will gradually catch up with the urban areas. However, how to build a new countryside while preserving the beauty of the old countryside such as banyan trees, water wharves, communal houses, etc. is a concern of many localities.

Thanks to the construction of new rural areas, many villages today have really flourished: The village roads and alleys are wide, paved with asphalt, and concreted flat, the vast fields are specialized in growing only one type of tree, no longer fragmented as before... Farmers' lives are increasingly prosperous and well-off thanks to the change in crop structure and the application of science and technology in production. However, also from the new rural areas, the bamboo banks and the green tea banks that soften the summer afternoon air and beautify the village roads have gradually disappeared, replaced by fences built of stone and sturdy cement. The village gates are no longer ancient and curved, but are concreted at a cost of hundreds of millions of dong.

Banyan tree and village well in Xuan Lam commune, Nam Dan. Photo: Bui Van Dung

Sharing the story of how to build a new countryside while still preserving the old village culture with the elders in Khanh Trung village - Nghi Khanh, one of the first cultural villages of Nghi Loc district, Mr. Vo Manh Khoi (70 years old) - who was the Secretary of Khanh Trung Party Cell for many years said: "The image of the banyan tree, the ferry, the communal house yard of the countryside has long permeated the soul of every Nghe An resident. And then every time I leave my hometown, what remains in my childhood memories are the times I sat waiting for my mother to come back under the banyan tree at the village entrance, the cool moonlit nights going to the communal house yard hoping to enjoy folk songs, the sad moments returning to the sacred place in the quiet afternoon bell sound...

Old people like us are very afraid that time will gradually destroy the village's cultural values, afraid that the bustling life of today's youth will not be able to preserve what our ancestors left behind. In Khanh Trung village, the issue of road opening and concreting is also a matter of concern and consideration: that is, we still agree to open roads but still have to try to preserve the ancient trees that have existed for generations such as acacia, royal poinciana, bamboo banks, and any family with a gate made of tea trees, the commune officials also encourage and motivate them to keep it. Because no matter how much change and industrialization there is, in the countryside we still have to preserve the countryside, not only in the scenery but also in human feelings: the village and neighborly love, when the lights go out, we help each other.

Mr. Nguyen Van Tinh, an official of Nghi Khanh commune, said that the commune focuses on restoring village wells, contributing to returning the space of the old Vietnamese countryside. That is also a way for the previous generation to teach the younger generation the precious values ​​of village culture. For example, in Khanh Trung village (Nghi Khanh), the Mo Phuong well was restored with socialized funding. People were very excited because they thought that they had restored the dragon vein of the village. The Mo Phuong well of Khanh Trung village is located right next to the inter-hamlet road that has just been widened and cleaned. In addition to restoring the well, people also built a monument telling the story of the Mo Phuong well. The well area was expanded and surrounded by green bamboo groves.

Uncle Khoi said: No one remembers clearly how long the village's Mo Phuong well has existed.Now, we only know one thing for sure: 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. The village well at that time was also a place for young people to meet and date, a place for children to play in the summer afternoons. 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 - 3m, the well was made entirely of cobblestones 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. Over time, the top of the well cracked, the well floor was eroded, trees grew wildly, the people of Khanh Trung village passing by felt worried...

To restore the village well, at that time, as the Party cell secretary, Uncle Khoi expressed his feelings: that it was necessary to restore the well 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 idea was strongly supported by the villagers. In 2007, Uncle Khoi stood up to mobilize, the poor families gave 50,000 VND, the well-off families gave 500,000 VND, 1 million VND, a total of 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 were all present to join hands in restoring the village well. In just one week, the village well was repaired according to its original model: there was a solid embankment around it, the well floor was paved with red bricks; next to the well was built a large stele with the inscription: Mo Phuong well relic.

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. 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 from the 2nd to the 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 hope that 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 fences, 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.

About the rich Bac Son cultural village (Van Dien - Nam Dan), imbued with the ancient village culture. In the quiet afternoon, the bells ring out... as evidence of the words of the Secretary of Bac Son hamlet, Vuong Truong Thu: at exactly 6 pm, the bells at the relics will ring 3 times, 6 times, signaling the passing of a peaceful day.

Having been to many places, but nowhere has the countryside scenery been as beautiful as Bac Son: there are moderate, curved roads shaded by green trees of camellia, jackfruit, mango, 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. To preserve so many relics, there is great consensus from the people. Mr. Luong Xuan Son - a resident of Bac Son village excitedly said: "According to the people's wishes, in the process of building new rural areas, Bac Son determined that in addition to implementing criteria such as traffic roads, land consolidation, in building cultural institutions, we agree with the commune and the village that we must preserve and promote the communal houses, temples and pagodas left by our ancestors. Only then can we preserve the cultural beauty of the village".

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", "front pillar". The sanctuary is the place to worship General Nam Son, the worshiping hall is the place to worship the community, his soldiers and is also the place to prepare for the ceremony.

Or Duc Son Pagoda, also known as Duc Son Tu, with the common name Nam Pagoda, was built during the Tran Dynasty - one of the oldest pagodas in Nghe An. In particular, Duc Son Pagoda still preserves a 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 equal size, similar in style, 1.2m high, sitting on a lotus pedestal made of jackfruit wood very elaborately. In addition, there are also 210 wooden blocks of scriptures 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 been ranked at the national level. Each relic has its own management board to oversee worship and organize festivals.

The relics of Bac Son village are becoming more and more beautiful thanks to regular renovations and upgrades with donations and contributions from the people. Fortunately, last year the pagoda well was restored on the old ground. The sacred beauty of the ancient communal houses will be the eternal beauty of a village that each of us must be responsible for preserving. "Because no matter what is said, what is done, no matter how much innovation is done, that space, that village must belong to the farmers, owned by the farmers", said Mr. Vuong Truong Thu, Secretary and hamlet chief of Bac Son cultural village (Van Dien, Nam Dan).

For farmers like Uncle Thu, Mr. Suu, Uncle Khoi, each banyan tree, 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