Old hometown style...

(Baonghean) - As a rural area with a long tradition, Nghi Kieu (Nghi Loc) has preserved many cultural vestiges, clearly expressing the regional identity. This place was once known for many ancient houses dating back hundreds of years, but now only a few remain to remind us of the past.

The old house of Mr. Nguyen Van Xinh.

Over a pot of green tea on a cold day, in a 5-room house nestled among bushes, Mr. Nguyen Van Xinh (born 1951), Xuan Hoa hamlet (Nghi Kieu - Nghi Loc) could not hide his pride when talking about his family's ancient house.

According to Mr. Xinh, this house of his family is nearly a hundred years old, built by his father, Mr. Nguyen Van Bau (born in 1898, often called Co Dong) when he first got married. The house is built with 12 main pillars, 4 round pillars and 2 half pillars, designed in the Tam Oai Ke Chuyen pattern and roofed with 13,000 yin and yang tiles. The pillars and other structural components such as trusses, rafters, purlins, and battens are all made of precious woods, mainly lim, doi and sen, taken from the mountainous areas of Thanh Chuong district, transported by strong buffaloes.

The house is nearly 11m long, nearly 6m wide, 4m high from the floor to the gable, and has a 45-degree slope. The stone pillars used to support the columns were brought from La Nham, now part of Nghi Yen commune, more than 30km away from the house. At that time, the house cost 1,500 quan of money or 1,000 phuong of rice, so only a well-off family, often called a "prestigious" family in the area, could build it. At that time, Xuan Hoa village had 40 households, of which 26 families built wooden houses and roofed them with yin-yang tiles, proving that this village was once rich and prosperous.

Up to now, Mr. Nguyen Van Xinh's house has been lived in by 4 generations. His parents passed away, his siblings all settled down far away, Mr. Xinh and his wife have the right to inherit the old house and have the obligation to take care of the incense. All the children have become successful, the grandchildren are numerous, many people advised Mr. Xinh and his wife to sell the old house to build a new, spacious, beautiful house, and buy modern amenities to enjoy life.

But he never intended to sell it, even though sometimes people came to ask to buy it, because for family members, the house was no longer simply a place to shelter from the rain and sun, but had become a part of their flesh and blood. That place contained many dear memories, wrapped in warmth and happiness from many generations. Compared to today's houses, that old house may be modest in area, height and convenience, but in that house it was always warm in winter and cool breezes from the fields in the summer.

According to the homeowner’s memory, during the years of the war against America, the old house of Mr. Nguyen Van Bau was a stopover for army units on their way to the southern battlefield. Local army units, whenever they came to Nghi Kieu for training and fighting, often chose this place as a place to rest and study politics.

In mid-1968, when the enemy bombs were constantly falling, Nghi Kieu Secondary School borrowed Mr. Bau's house as an exam site for 3 days, and the exam took place safely and successfully. During the fierce war, the US Air Force dropped bombs day and night on Nghi Kieu land, many times hitting villages, many houses were buried by bombs, but Mr. Bau's house was lucky. There were 5 bombs falling around, but about 200m from the wall, so the house still stood firm, continuing to shelter the family members.

It is worth mentioning that after nearly 100 years with many ups and downs, changes of the times, under the scene of bombs and bullets of war and the harshness of the climate, but the old house of Mr. Bau, now owned by Mr. Xinh, has only been renovated once. The renovation was carried out by Mr. Xinh by re-tiles, a few tiles were damaged so two rows of new tiles had to be replaced. Along with that, the surrounding wall was rebuilt and the floor tiles were replaced, while the other items remained original. This renovation did not affect much the structure and shape of the house, because the most important thing is that its frame is still kept intact, everything still exudes closeness and antiquity, simplicity and peace.

In a moment, the pot of green tea was empty, but the story about the ancient house was not over yet. Mr. Nguyen Van Xinh said that in addition to his house, in Xuan Hoa hamlet there was another ancient house that had been lived in for 5 generations. After saying that, he led us to that house, which is now used by his descendants as a place to worship their grandparents and ancestors. The owner of this ancient house, that is, the person who has the right to own it, is Mr. Ha Huy Hong (born in 1960), currently a famous carpenter in the area.

Mr. Hong said that this ancient house was built by Mr. Ha Huy Phien (the villagers often called Tuan Phien - a small position in the old society) at the beginning of the last century. The house was designed with 3 rooms, 7m long, 5m wide, 2m high walls, 8 columns, built in the style of tam oai ke chuyen, roofed with yin and yang tiles, made from two types of wood: lim and dổi. Since its construction, Mr. Tuan Phien's house has only re-laid the floor and replaced the front paneling, while the structural system and other parts are all original.

The strong impression when entering this house is the delicately carved patterns on the rafters and pillars. In the middle is a faded horizontal lacquered board and parallel sentences along with a system of thrones and tablets that further enhance the ancient features. Along with that is a moss-covered wall imprinted with the color of time, above are Chinese characters with faint and clear strokes. This proves that the house was built by craftsmen with skillful and talented hands. And in addition to the use value, when designing and building the house, the owner also aimed for aesthetic value.

As a descendant, Mr. Ha Huy Hong did not know the origin and history of the house. When he was young, he only heard his grandfather tell a few stories about hauling wood and carrying tiles to build the house. Before his death, his grandfather instructed his children and grandchildren not to sell the house even if they fell into poverty, because it was a happy home passed down from generation to generation. After many years of wind, rain, storms and bombs falling and bullets exploding, the house remained steadfast, so the next generation must always preserve it and not demolish or sell it for any reason.

Therefore, more than 10 years ago, many people who specialize in "hunting" for ancient houses came to Xuan Hoa hamlet to ask to buy, but Mr. Hong refused to sell. Now, this ancient house does not meet the living needs of the whole family, Mr. Hong built a new house, the ancient house is used as a place of worship. The old house is still intact, on death anniversaries and Tet, children and grandchildren come back to burn incense, the image of the ancient people is still present, reminding future generations to keep the eternal morality, live honestly and not forget family traditions.

The elders here affirm that Nghi Kieu is an ancient land, because most of the family's ancestral graves are hundreds of years old, from 9 generations or more. In the past, there were many ancient houses here, but some were destroyed by war, and some were not preserved by later generations. Only the houses of Mr. Nguyen Van Bau and Mr. Ha Huy Phien remain as evidence of a time long gone. Everyone praises the descendants of these two families for preserving the old traditions, so that future generations can find their roots...

Cong Kien