The sun rises over the mountain peak, the golden sunlight decorates the forests on Dat Hop and Tong Nhat mountains like bows embracing the Mong village at the headwaters of Khe Nhoi, Trung Son commune, Yen Lap district. On both sides of the road, plum and peach blossoms are budding, blooming, and the pleated skirts flutter like colorful butterflies to the rhythm of the Mong women's footsteps going to the market to prepare food for Tet...
Women and children of Mong Khe Nhoi village.
Remember the hard days
The first time I went to Mong Khe Nhoi village was in 2004. At that time, the road to the village through the old forests was just a small dirt road that had just been cleared. After that, I went to Mong village every chance I got, witnessing the changes of the people here.
Located at an altitude of over 1,000m, with its back against the Dat Hop mountain range, the Mong Khe Nhoi village with nearly 50 houses clings to the mountainside. Ly A Phang's house - a member of the security team of the area - is located halfway up the mountain, but we did not have to walk like a few years ago but drove to the gate. Having just returned from attending a meeting with voters of the People's Council of the commune, Ly A Phang welcomed us with a warm smile. In the two-story wooden house, the largest in the village, stories of the past and present were as lively as if there was no end...
Pouring a cup of water brewed from forest trees to invite guests, Ly A Phang pondered: The Mong people have been nomadic for generations, wherever there is a water source and good land, they build houses, clear fields, when the land is no longer fertile, they leave. The Mong people came to Khe Nhoi in 1995 in a similar migration. At first, there were only 5 households in Nghia Tam commune, Suoi Bu commune, Son Thinh commune of Van Chan district (Yen Bai province), then they added brothers, friends, grown children, separated households and formed a village like today. In the early days of moving to the new land, due to the habit of living on nature, the Mong people's life here was very difficult. Clearing a patch of field, sowing a few kilos of rice, planting a few corn holes and going into the forest to hunt, gather... so the houses were makeshift, hunger and poverty still lingered. There were years when the poverty rate in the village was 100%...
Sturgeon farm in Mong Khe Nhoi village.
To the "time" of prosperity
In 2003, after the provincial leaders' trip to Khe Nhoi to "inspect" the lives of the Mong people, the project of settling down the Mong people in Khe Nhoi village, Trung Son commune was formed. The first step was to invest in developing production, guiding the people to reclaim land to grow rice and build swidden fields. Next was to build essential welfare infrastructure to serve the production and life of the people; stabilize the population, create jobs, increase income, gradually eliminate hunger and reduce poverty, and join hands to build a new life.
“From a nomadic life, the Mong people's life in Khe Nhoi has changed day by day. Starting with receiving a household registration book, to a project buffalo, houses with asbestos-cement roofs, government water tanks, kindergartens, primary schools, ways to plant forests, grow wet rice, upland rice, raise pigs, chickens... then the project "Socio-economic development of Khe Nhoi area" established under the direction of the Northwest Steering Committee has helped open up the way out of poverty for the Mong village" - the first time opening the notebook from when he was the leader of the area - Ly A Cuong (former Deputy of Mong village in the period of 2006-2012, Head of Mong village in the period of 2012-2017) confided.
The newly built Khe Nhoi cultural house is a spacious meeting place and community activity place for the Mong, Dao and Muong people.
Continuing the story about the new life of the Mong Khe Nhoi villagers, Head of the Front Committee of Nhoi area Dinh Van Hung, who accompanied us to the Mong village, shared: In 2005, the trail from the commune center to Khe Nhoi was widened, curved, and sloped down, but it was still a dirt road. In 2012, the road was renovated and filled with crushed stone. In 2018, the road to the village continued to be upgraded, concreted, and the sections that crossed the streams were replaced with solid concrete bridges. Along with the new road, in 2018, the national grid was brought in to "light up" Khe Nhoi, helping the whole village escape from darkness and backwardness.
Many families are supported by the State with televisions and refrigerators, which has turned a new page in their lives. 100% of school-age children go to school, and sick people are taken to the Commune Health Station for timely examination and treatment. Now, every house has a garden, a field, a forest, and many have 3-5 hectares of cinnamon...
With the support of the Party, the State and the community, the Mong Khe Nhoi people have gradually escaped poverty, and their material and spiritual lives have improved. If in the past, nearly 100% of the households in the Mong village were poor, now the number has decreased to 29/46 households. After many times of surveying water sources, in early 2024, a business from the lowlands came to Khe Nhoi to invest and cooperate with the villagers to set up a farm to raise spawning sturgeon and commercial sturgeon. Up to now, the fish have begun to be sold, and at the same time, jobs have been created with an average income of 10 million VND/person/month for more than a dozen people from the Mong, Muong and Dao villages in the area.
Mr. Mua A Su, a resident of Mong Khe Nhoi village, shared: “My family used to be very poor, but now it is different. With the attention of the Party, the State, all levels and sectors supporting loans, my family has been trained in transferring scientific and technical advances to grow cinnamon, grow bodhi, raise livestock and poultry, intensively cultivate rice, buy a car to transport agricultural products for people, and open a grocery store... Up to now, my family's life has improved, my children can go to school. This year, my family will welcome a warm and happy spring."
The way to Mong village
Eagerly waiting for Spring
“Dear brother, Spring is coming/ Wait for me, wait for me by the murmuring stream/ Wait for me, wait for me at the end of the hill/ Dear brother, Spring is coming, come by the clear stream”... the singing voice from a family echoed, making us all excited and cheerful. Ly A Phang said: “Perhaps this year, the Mong Khe Nhoi people have the happiest Spring ever because no household has to feed the hungry during Tet. Even in Phang’s family, pigs and chickens are raised during the year, locked in cages, just waiting for guests to come and serve them.”
Sharing about the Mong people's Tet customs, Ly A Cuong said: In the past, the Mong people's Tet took place earlier, lasting for months, different from the Kinh people's Tet and other ethnic groups' Tet. Nowadays, the Mong people in Khe Nhoi celebrate Tet as well as the Muong and Kinh people. To prepare for Tet, each person has their own job, women will complete the embroidery and buttons on new clothes for adults and children to wear on Tet. Men go shopping or slaughter pigs and chickens for family meals. If for the Kinh people, banh chung and banh tet are indispensable in the Tet tray, then the Mong people's Tet must have banh day to worship their ancestors and heaven and earth, so pounding banh day is an indispensable task on Tet. During the three main days of Tet, every family burns firewood, keeps the stove red continuously, both to keep warm, to ward off evil spirits and to pray for peace and luck. During Tet, besides religious rituals, Mong boys and girls also enthusiastically participate in many familiar folk games such as playing tulu, throwing pao, shooting crossbows, tug of war, pushing sticks, and dancing with panpipes... Laughter and chatter resound throughout the village.
A new spring has come, the sweet rays of early spring sunshine somewhat dispel the cold of the highlands, the Mong people in Khe Nhoi embroider together, go to the year-end market to prepare for a warm and cozy Tet. Mong boys and girls wear colorful clothes and skirts to celebrate the spring together; pao fruits are given back and forth; the khen dance, the gentle sound of flutes; the love songs create a joyful and cozy atmosphere of Tet.
Dinh Vu
Source: https://baophutho.vn/nang-am-ban-mong-nbsp-227053.htm
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