Stories tinged with legend
My business trip to Sang Tung commune, Dong Van district (Ha Giang) was quite short and basically I traveled by motorbike, so what I gathered was from the back of a local person's car, such as the officer in charge of trade and industry, the Economic Infrastructure Department of Dong Van District People's Committee, Ho My So, or the Vice Chairman of Sang Tung commune in charge of ethnic and religious affairs, Ly Thi My, or the Chairman of Sang Tung commune, Phuc Trong Binh. The story of Sang Tung Dragon Cave came about by chance, starting from the moment I saw a rather large water pipe on the side of the road, following the foot of the mountain. From that detail, the story of Sang Tung Dragon Cave opened up.
Legend has it that, long ago, Sang Tung was a sparsely populated area, with few birds and animals and little green vegetation due to lack of water and arable land. The Mong people here had to walk two or three days to fetch water for use.
One day, in Ta Lung B mountain, there was a sudden sound of rocks falling, then a very loud breathing sound. The villagers were curious and went out to see and suddenly saw a hole appear in the mountain. Following the hole, they saw a very large animal like a dragon with brown claws lying curled up and breathing. Thinking that this was a sacred creature of heaven, they had to bring out the most precious thing to treat it, so the villagers brought out their rare water cans to offer. After many days like that, the water accumulated and formed a cave.
There is also a legend that the animal is a Dragon, the son of Heaven sent down to rule this Sang Tung land. Seeing the people suffering from lack of water, the Dragon asked Heaven to build an underground stream into the cave, turning the cave he was in into a large lake containing water to save the people. Therefore, during years of prolonged drought, water suddenly rose up in the cave to save the people from thirst. There is also a rumor from ancient times that this lake is very large, as large as a challenge of the Dragon, if anyone throws a stone from this side to the end of the lake, they will become the child of the Dragon. The Mong people here also believe that if they drink the water of the Dragon cave, their eyes will be brighter and clearer.
There are also people who tell the story in a different way, as thrilling as the story of old man Ho Phai Sinh. He said that the Mong people who were older than him all said that the cave was originally the mouth of a petrified dragon, so it needed to be quiet and clean. Therefore, if a large group of people were brought in or if someone brought unclean things, even unclean thoughts, the cave would automatically raise water to "wash" them.
The Mong people here still pass down many different versions of the legend of Dragon Cave. They say that Dragon Cave is very "afraid" of people who eat meat, drink alcohol and go into the cave in large numbers, especially alcohol and goat meat. Legend has it that if you eat one of the two things above and enter the cave, water from the bottom of the cave will erupt and rise up, preventing that person from entering. Ly Thi My asserts that although she did not see it directly, she heard many times about the story before, a man from another place came, during a party and heard mysterious stories about Dragon Cave, so he was half-believing and half-doubting, wanting to go into the cave to verify the truth. That person invited a few friends to go with him, however, before they could go deep into the cave, water gushed out, and the whole group had to quickly run out. Because of such oral stories, the Mong people in Sang Tung named the cave "the cave that hates people who eat meat and drink alcohol".
Keep water like keeping lifeblood
Legends are what people think of to explain things they do not know clearly, or to convey their dreams and aspirations in their own lives and the community. But whether born from natural phenomena or from legends, stories tinged with myth are also a way for the Mong people in Sang Tung to cherish Dragon Cave with respect and that "excessive" respect has made them preserve the natural heritage basically intact until now. It is also a privilege that not every land possesses - the privilege of faith and gratitude to nature.
In the afternoon, we were supposed to go deep into the field to explore Dragon Cave, but we couldn’t do it and instead we visited the incense making village because that afternoon, both Sang Tung Commune Chairman Phuc Trong Binh and us had eaten meat. If I had proactively planned to visit the cave, we wouldn’t have been able to touch any meat at noon. Chairman Phuc Trong Binh told me that, in addition to his personal faith and respect for the gods, as a commune official, he also had to set an example for the Mong people in Sang Tung Commune to follow in order to protect the cave and protect the precious water source for the people.
Pointing to the water pipe across Sang Tung Primary and Secondary School, he said, if it weren't for Hang Rong, where would we get water to serve the people, especially in important places like the school here, or the commune health station right next to here.
Following his direction, I looked over to Sang Tung Primary and Secondary School, a sign with the school's name, bright red paint, sturdy houses nestled into the mountain, the soil here brown and wet, a sign of abundant water.
Usually, April is the month when the rainy season begins until September, but this year, from the beginning of the year, the rain has been little and very late, before it has had time to return a few times, the dry season has come, the communes of Sa Phin, Xin Man, the hanging lakes are very dry, luckily Sang Tung has water from Hang Rong, even though it is more frugal, there is still enough to use.
It was true, when passing through Seo Lung B village of the commune, I quickly took a picture of a bunch of vegetables from the people. And right next to the committee, a house of the Medical Station was still being urgently built, Hau Mi Co was pushing a wheelbarrow to get cement while saying: "There is water, with water we can build, without water, how can we make the cement and sand stick together, and there...". The so-called "there" according to the direction Co pointed, was a family (probably people from the lowlands who came to make a living) washing their car. The stream of sparkling white water coming out from the nozzle, if in the plains or cities, would be too normal, but in this rocky plateau, seeing it made me tremble with joy with emotion.
I read the pride in Hau Mi Co's voice. It seems that the Mong people in Sang Tung that I met, whoever talked about water, secretly had a bit of pride because their commune had a magical cave that gave them water. And everyone said that they had to preserve the Dragon Cave as if they were preserving the lifeblood of the Mong people in Sang Tung. There was only one thing that few people understood, that is, if there was no water pipeline system invested by the commune government in combination with socialized resources to every village and hamlet, the people of Sang Tung would still have to walk a long way to the cave to carry water back, not to mention, each time they entered the cave, they would have to be very cautious and wait a long time, when one person came out, the other person would dare to go in to ask for water, the amount of water requested like that could not be as much and as often as when it was brought through the system.
“The rate of ensuring clean and hygienic water in the commune has been over 90% for the past few years, the target for 2023 is 92%. However, there are still Mong households that live too far from the water source, and the road to the village is difficult, so water cannot be brought up, such as Then Van village. I wish Then Van or the villages perched on the top of the sky throughout this rocky plateau would have more Dragon gods to reside there…” - The voice of the commune chairman suddenly sounded distant.
Pride then contemplation. Along with joy, there are still many worries. Along with peace of mind are worries. He said that nature is generous but not infinite, so Sang Tung must preserve this precious water source for long-term use. As for the commune, the management and allocation are clear responsibilities, and as for the villagers, he still hopes that the stories about water and Dragon Cave born from legend will forever maintain its faith and sparkling beauty to act as a sacred charm to protect the water as well as to nourish the lifeblood of the Mong people.
Caves usually develop in fairly pure limestone blocks, while Dragon Cave develops in layers of limestone interspersed with thinly layered calcareous claystone about 250 - 245 million years old, which is very rare in Vietnam as well as in the world.
The cave develops in the sub-meridian direction, the cave entrance looks out at about 340o. The cave is over 200m long, consisting of two floors: The upper floor is dry with many beautiful stalactites. The lower floor has an average wide corridor of 1-8m, the cave ceiling is about 3-8m high, the stalactites are less diverse. In the innermost is a cave room with a lake about 200m2 wide, with an estimated capacity of about 20,000m3; the ceiling is about 17m high, in some places up to 30m. Under the cave floor, there are very flat and wide places, signs that this place was formerly the structure of an underground river. Inside the cave, there is a small, clear stream, flowing through the cave for a while, then passing through the stone caves and disappearing.
The cave has been equipped with a pumping system since 2003 to exploit karst groundwater, serving the daily needs of the people of Sang Tung and Ho Quang Phin communes. Dragon Cave was recognized as a National Monument by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in September 2014; it is a very valuable cave heritage of the Dong Van Karst Plateau UNESCO Global Geopark.
According to documents of the Management Board of UNESCO Geopark Dong Van Karst Plateau
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