A breath of the countryside

Dien Ban and Duy Xuyen are connected by a bridge. Photo: Pham Toan

1. I remember the drinking session at Ba Sac's house (Duy Phu commune, Duy Xuyen). When I asked about worshiping the land god, Hai Choi - Ba Sac's family member said, we pray like other places, and we have to pray to the My Son gods, because we live in the ancient Cham land, so we can't have that.

Ba Sac's house is just a few steps away from My Son tower.

Hearing that, I suddenly remembered the night I drank in An Luong (Duy Hai). My high school classmate's old man said that when praying, you have to say "I have a midwife", ask for a midwife. This place, according to researcher Nguyen Boi Lien, once had Hai Pho - a trading port in front of Hoi An, before Hoi An. Later, during archaeological excavations, we found huge anchors. There is no shortage of Cham relics here.

Now I am sitting with teacher Doan Ngoc An at his home. When I was in school, he was the vice principal of Duy Xuyen High School. We were surprised to…take his teaching, because that day the History class had no teacher, the class was as noisy as the District Market (next to Sao Nam School now there is a District Market).

The teacher passed by, stopped by, and immediately “showed off” the lesson about the Paris Conference. I briefly remember that the teacher explained why the conference was a round table and not a square table? That was a rather rare way of teaching, not overly concerned with long-winded theories.

I sought him out, not only because I believed he had a solid knowledge of history and geography, but also because he was the co-author of the book "Duy Xuyen - Land and People" published in 2016, reprinted in 2020.

The teacher said, you should note that Quang Nam is a united country, because the Thanh - Nghe - Cham people live on the same land. It is definitely not wrong to say that Duy Xuyen is influenced by Champa, because there is My Son, and there is no need to go to My Son, our people's habit is to say Ba Midwife, then worship at Ba temple! Why not Mr. but Mrs.?

In addition to the Buddhist element, worshiping Quan The Am, it should be noted that she is a matriarch, a Cham. The blood mixture is inevitable. Not to mention the eastern region, there is a Minh Huong element that has fled and mixed.

Traditional village festival in Duy Xuyen. Photo: MAI NHI

2. The story of Champa in Duy Xuyen is full of books. But I want to "twist" another factor: The land determines the people, so how are the people of Duy Xuyen, for example, different from Hoi An, Dien Ban? Because I am still haunted by the Cau Lau bridge, but on the other side of the bridge is famous for the grilled cow Cau Mong, on this side, the cow god Ninga is worshiped!

The teacher said, the difference between Hoi An and my hometown is purely agricultural, while Hoi An is a trading community. Pay attention, the farmers, their houses are separated by a field, a plot of land, one house is separated by a garden, so they have to speak loudly to be heard, and it is not clever. But the traders, who sit close together, do not need to speak loudly, not to mention speaking loudly will… reveal their tricks.

What about Dien Ban? I asked researcher Ho Trung Tu - he is from Duy An, his nephew calls Dr. Ho Trung Luong his great-grandfather.
He replied that Duy Xuyen was originally the capital of Champa. After King Le Thanh Tong conquered it into Dai Viet in 1471, there was much evidence that they remained there.

The genealogy of the 13 clans of ancestors in Tra Kieu shows that they only came to Tra Kieu after 1550 and recruited people to establish villages, with the condition that the people they recruited had to be Cham. The Cham/Cham character was stronger than Dien Ban, as it was not until the Minh Mang period that they agreed to switch to speaking Vietnamese, so their accent was different.

So is it stronger in the element of respect for the gods, not easily resigned, and accompanied by repression? Anh Tu said: Duy Xuyen people are more argumentative. More reserved. More secretive. Refuse to work for hire. Refuse to follow industrial rules.

Anyone from Dien Ban, or even Duy Xuyen, who reads this, if they want to argue, please meet Mr. Tu.

The traditional profession of growing mulberry and raising silkworms has existed for a long time in Duy Xuyen district. Photo: Nhat Tu

3. Duy Xuyen land is temporarily divided into three regions: west - central - east. I noticed that people in the west speak briefly, even less and are quite calm, and somewhat humorous. This is what I temporarily took from Duy Chau to Duy Phu, Duy Thu...

In the central region, Duy Trung, Duy Son, Duy Trinh, Duy An, Duy Phuoc, they responded faster, perhaps they soon started doing business. But even in Duy Son, the people of Tra Kieu were different from the people near the mountains in Tra Ly.
As for the eastern regions such as Duy Thanh, Duy Vinh, Duy Nghia, Duy Hai, the way of speaking and working is rough and strong. Of course, Duy Vinh is different from Ban Thach region because there is a market there.

I say this because I remember my class in high school, also... the United States of America, then when I went to college, I also met some guys from the West. Not to mention when I went to work later, the voices and faces of many colors remained in my mind.

He said, even the markets, although Duy Xuyen is close to the Thu Bon River, there are Thu Bon, Ban Thach, Noi Rang markets, but the commercial element is also little, mostly barter, except for Thu Bon and Ban Thach markets where goods are more diverse. Even in the silk regions like Ma Chau, Duy Trinh, a little silk also comes from agriculture. And even the former capital of Tra Kieu, there was Ham Rong market, but the commercial documents are vague. The urban character is not much, not as fierce as Hoi An.

By the way, I told Mr. An the story of the time I went with Mr. Van Cong Dung, who works at VTV8, to his hometown in Tiem Ruou (Nam Phuoc). This is where My Xuyen Dong village is famous for having the most royal titles in Vietnam, with 32 royal titles kept by the villagers until now.

Mr. Dung is also the co-author of the geographical book “My Xuyen Dong - Land and People” which was just published in 2024. He said that there is evidence that Can Huc is here, not Dien Phuong. I think that is a suspicion! Mr. An nodded, saying that in the past there was a horse carriage there, and if so, there were soldiers gathering, having fun, setting up temples and shops, but the basis for saying that Can Huc is here is difficult to convince, because Dien Phuong is stronger in historical documents.

4. Another time, I read from the research article of author Le Thi, saying that the shape of Duy Xuyen land is in the shape of a bat, and according to ancient beliefs, a bat is the word Phuc. I thought, what kind of blessing is Phuc? To give blessings, money, land and fiefdoms for the future, when I think my hometown is not as rich as other places?

Master An smiled, according to him, that blessing was once lived entirely by agriculture. And he asked: Duy Xuyen is proud to be the burial place of two famous women of the Nguyen Dynasty, Mac Thi Giai and Doan Quy Phi, so may I ask why did Lord Nguyen choose this land to bury those two women, instead of bringing them to Hue or somewhere else? What was their intention, what was the feng shui element when burying them?

Bear.

Writing about one's hometown, one can easily fall into the trap of praising - because only unfilial children curse their parents. But sing correctly, otherwise one will be beaten in one's hometown and laughed at by people from other places.

Duy Xuyen has just held a conference to celebrate the 420th anniversary of the birth of the name Duy Xuyen. The history of this land is associated with the names of many people who have entered the history of the country, from economics to culture, society, ancient and modern.

Village history, hometown history, sometimes is a breath when sitting in front of the house. Missing father and mother, the rice field in front of the village has now become a memory. What I said above, I repeat, is also about the character of a time, but now it seems that everywhere... music and lyrics are the same. That's not right, please let it go!

Remember, and then see the compassionate homeland like a page of scripture somewhere echoing from the village temple...

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/mot-nhip-tho-que-3139310.html