Choosing Tay Giang - Quang Nam as the first stop on the journey from Truong Son Dong to the western branch of Truong Son road was something I had cherished for a long time before riding a motorbike alone to the mountainous region of Quang Nam.
In the thousand-year-old "Kingdom of Po Mu"
Traveling more than 130 km from Da Nang, in the afternoon, we arrived at A Tieng commune, which is also the district capital of Tay Giang with several rows of streets leading to the district's central square. Everything exuded a sense of intimacy, simplicity and sadness. We had a bowl of Quang noodles, then continued rolling along the mountain pass to the west towards the border commune of A Xan.
Occasionally, groups of Co Tu women, after a hard day of cutting bamboo in the forest, are sitting by the roadside, splitting each section into a short tube to sell to traders early the next morning or directly to the market to sell to people as cooking utensils: bamboo rice, Zo Ra - a famous dish with the rich flavor of the Truong Son mountains and forests that all Co Tu people can prepare.
The core area of the "Pơ Mu kingdom" of Tay Giang seen from above
TTD
The road to the border is about 40 km long and goes up higher and higher as evidence that it is crossing the peak of the Truong Son mountain range as many people have said, it also makes the car constantly overheat and sluggish every time I drive over a long slope even though I have shifted to low gear. And the clouds drift down to the deep valley, sometimes rising with the wind, spreading across the pass road through the lush green of the dense forest on Que Peak at an altitude of 1,400m above sea level.
From the Bac Song Bung forest protection station at the back of the pass, I continued driving with Mr. Moi - a Co Tu ethnic person - across a 7km long, jagged green stone road to enter the Po Mu forest.
The first "old tree" Pơ Mu we faced was located on the mountainside with a trunk with many cracks, about 25m high and more than 2m in diameter, requiring 6 people to hug it. Notably, while the top with dozens of large, green branches swaying in the afternoon sun, the rough, knotty roots covered with moss create the shape of a sitting tiger, a majestic appearance. Therefore, in addition to being numbered, the "old tree" was also named the Tiger tree by the locals. A few dozen steps further, we met the "old tree" named Dragon because the roots coiled around the base of the tree and crawled on the carpet of fallen leaves for many years, creating a beautiful shape. It is truly "Rolling Dragon, Sitting Tiger".
The core area of the "Pơ Mu kingdom" is about 450 hectares wide, covering Zi'lieng mountain at an altitude of 1,350m above sea level, discovered by the Co Tu ethnic group in 2011. Of the 1,396 Pơ Mu trees that have been counted, 725 trees with a diameter of 1.5m or more have been recognized as Heritage Trees by the Vietnam Association for Conservation of Nature and Environment.
According to Mr. Briu Liec, Secretary of Tay Giang District Party Committee: In addition to the majority of Po Mu trees here that are 250 to 1,000 years old, a few are over a thousand years old, especially there is an individual located deep in the forest, considered the lord of the Po Mu kingdom because of its diameter of more than 4m and when drilling to take samples, it was determined to be 1,832 years old.
The author with "old man" Po Mu
TTD
Although life today is still full of difficulties, the awareness of forest protection has been deeply ingrained in the subconscious of the Co Tu people, especially the upstream forests, forests with many giant trees,... according to legend, are the dwelling places of the gods who protect the people to survive and develop. That awareness has been expressed through customary laws and village covenants to protect the forest, which anyone who violates will be severely punished by the village elders, and if they repeat the offense, they will be expelled from the village.
In addition, the ritual of thanking Mother Forest at the beginning of the year, offering to open the forest to allow slash-and-burn farming or offering to ask for trees to be cut down to build houses for villagers or community houses are all strictly organized.
The beauty of the Gươl house
If the forest has a god, then the village has Giàng, who was worshiped by the Co Tu people in the Gươl - similar to the Vietnamese communal house. Nowadays, due to the demands of life, Gươl has become a place for community activities of the villagers but is still associated with the buffalo sacrifice festival at the ceremonial pole (x'nur pole) erected in front of Gươl - a symbol of Giàng, the gods gather to witness in the accompaniment of gongs, drums, trumpets and resounding loudly.
Furthermore, gongs and drums will create rhythm and melody for men wearing loincloths, holding swords, spears, shields and crossbows, walking around two poles in a counterclockwise direction while recreating the fighting and hunting movements with a heroic appearance in the Tontung dance. Dancing at the same time, the movements shown in the women's dadăq dance are somewhat flexible with their legs bouncing around and their arms raised to shoulder height in a U shape, simulating the image of carrying offerings to the sky.
Tay Giang Traditional Cultural Village consists of 10 moong (traditional houses) facing the Sword Relic - the highlight of the village.
During my days wandering around Tay Giang, I set foot in the traditional cultural village, located on a hill overlooking the district center like a museum of outdoor residential architecture.
In addition to the massiveness and primitiveness, the exemplary architectural complex of 10 moong (traditional houses) representing 10 communes in the district, 1 long house, all arranged in an oval shape facing the Gươl - the highlight of the village, I also easily noticed that the Gươl was also beautified by local artisans with their painting and carving skills on the pillars, small pillars, and beams, even though they only used rudimentary tools: knives for carving, axes for chiseling,...; colored stones, tree bark as decoration materials.
The most special are the whole wooden panels used as partitions and railings around the Sword Gate. The artisans have meticulously carved on the surface of the panels to become a continuous relief depicting ancient hunting scenes.
In the beliefs of ethnic minorities living in the mountainous regions of Vietnam, most of them when holding annual festivals always erect the pole in the space of the long house or in front of the communal house yard if in the Central Highlands, Truong Son,... In the Northwest, Northeast, people place it in the middle of the village or on terraced fields,... although the cultural nuances, spiritual meanings, names, and decorations are not the same.
However, for the Co Tu people, there is a difference, when the focus is on the ceremonial column erected right in the middle of the front yard of the Gươl house and divided into 3 levels symbolizing heaven, earth, and people: the top part of the column is the shape of the rice god, the middle part of the column is carved with many rice pounding mortars hugging the concave column in the middle, symbolizing fertility, wishing for a good harvest, for species to thrive, and for prosperity.
At the foot of the pole, people reinforce some logs to make it more sturdy to tie the sacrificial buffalo or make an altar to arrange offerings of pigs, chickens, sticky rice, wine, etc. The two poles are two bamboo trees placed on both sides, but their tops and leaves sag down and connect right on top of the ceremonial pole, symbolizing the connection between humans and the spiritual world.
The artisan has elaborately carved on the surface of the board into a bas-relief surrounding the Sword.
TTD
Passing through "Hamburger Hill"
Although I only stayed in Tay Giang for 2 days and traveled everywhere, when I left the district town to continue my journey to Lao Bao - Quang Tri, I still felt reluctant to say goodbye to my relatives at the old ferry. But I could not linger forever with the image of the Gươl house, the echoes of the gong performance last night,... because ahead of us was a famous road with potential dangers from steep slopes, "elbow" bends, and landslides were not uncommon,... Therefore, any distraction and lack of concentration while driving can be extremely dangerous.
After passing the pass, the sky and land opened up, and there appeared scattered villages of the Ta Oi and Pa Co ethnic groups next to the vast green fields between two overlapping mountain ranges - one blocking the Vietnam - Laos border to the west, the other running east to the north and spreading out to the plains.
From here, we enter the mountainous border district of A Luoi - a place that, when mentioned, people immediately remember that it was once a military base associated with fierce battles, typically the battle that broke out in May 1969 on the 937m high point of A Bia hill in the A Sau valley near the Vietnam - Laos border. At that time, the American press called A Bia "Hamburger Hill" or "human meat grinder" to describe the fierceness and high casualties under the bombs.
The festival space has a spiritual character of the Co Tu people. If the men are brave in the Tontung dance, the women will be gentle in the dadăq dance.
TTD
From a desolate, barren land contaminated with dioxin, the mountainous border district of A Luoi has now changed a lot compared to what I witnessed on my first trip 10 years ago. The streets are spacious, the residential areas with red tiled roofs grow close together under rows of straight green trees, looking very impressive, not inferior to the lowlands. And in the district, there are 2 national border gates, A Dot - Ta Vang, Hong Van - Cu Tai, connecting with Laos, creating favorable conditions for the two countries to trade, develop the economy, culture and society in the border area.
It is a pity that A Bia Hill, although now ranked as a national monument by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in 2021, the reality is that the number of tourists coming here is still modest. The main reason is that the investment in the relic is quite monotonous, not reflecting the context of the past brutal war. Therefore, to develop tourism and attract long-term visitors, the local tourism industry needs to invest in and restore A Bia Hill and A So airport in a realistic way as in wartime.
In addition, many tourism products will be developed, focusing on exploiting three main available types: visiting the forest ecosystem and the upper reaches of the Dakrong, Bo, and Huong rivers, learning about the cultural values of the Ta Oi and Pa Co ethnic groups, and reminiscing about the old battlefields,.../.
Tran The Dung (According to Thanh Nien)
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/bi-an-dong-truong-son-1852312071442055.htm
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