Communal house and village

“Oh Giang, please bless the village’s communal house pillars to always be strong, the village’s communal house roof to always be durable, the villagers to grow a lot of rice, and to not have any epidemics or illnesses” - the prayer of village elder A Thor echoed in the sound of gongs, signaling that the village officially has a new communal house.

Villagers build a new communal house. Photo: TH

For the past few days, the villagers have been very happy because the construction of the new communal house has been completed. No matter what they do, every morning when they wake up or every evening when they return, everyone takes the time to look at the majestic, towering roof of the communal house, like an axe slashing against the blue sky.

That's the village's communal house, it was built with the sweat and effort of the villagers - everyone proudly thinks and says so.

On the day of the new communal house, the village was as happy as a festival. Women brought out their newest and most beautiful dresses to wear, men brought out their gongs and played their best songs to celebrate the new communal house, to celebrate the gods having a beautiful place to live, and the villagers having a place to hold community activities in true character.

The ceremony to celebrate the new communal house begins with a prayer to inform the gods, with only the village elder A Thor and the elderly participating. To perform the ceremony, the village elder prepares a chicken and a small offering set placed on the eastern staircase of the communal house (the secondary staircase).

He prayed loudly for Giang to "bless the villagers to have a successful festival, the person cutting the pole will not be injured, will not fall, will not be hit by knives or machetes.

So now, every night, the elderly, children, men and women in the village gather at the communal house to meet and participate in community activities together.

The village's communal house was built in the traditional communal house architecture of the Xo Dang ethnic group, 12m high, 11m long and 9m wide, with a total cost of over 200 million VND. Of which, the State supported nearly 160 million VND, and the people contributed the rest and labor days.

That night, old man A Thor invited us to stay in the communal house, drink jar wine, eat grilled wild rats, stream fish cooked with bamboo shoots and listen to stories about building the communal house. The cold of the old forest, although not yet cutting to the skin and flesh, still followed the mountain wind through the gaps in the communal house, making everyone closer to the blazing fire.

Village elder A Thor lifted his wine jug, eyes half-closed: So the village spirit now has a decent place to reside. For us Xo Dang people, without a communal house, there is no village, the spirits cannot return, because there is no place to reside.

Old A Thor's words, sometimes loud, sometimes soft, amid the crackling of pine firewood, said: The village has 150 households, mainly Xo Dang people. With the attention and investment of the province and district, the village has achieved 6/10 criteria for building a new rural village. The appearance of the village has changed a lot. Houses have been renovated to be more cozy; village roads have been widened and lengthened.

People have learned to apply science and technology, introduce new varieties into production; know how to build orchards, raise poultry, dig ponds to raise fish; no longer wait or rely on the state but build a new life for themselves. This is truly a “revolution” in the thinking of the people.

But the villagers still have one thing in mind: the village does not have a communal house. For the Xo Dang people, when establishing a village, the first thing to do is to build a communal house, because that is where the gods reside. The communal house is always located in the most beautiful location, and every year, festivals still take place there. No matter where they are, the villagers still build a communal house, so that future generations will know that their ancestors had a communal house like that.

Under the communal house roof, night after night, sometimes lasting for dozens of nights, the elderly often sing and tell their children and grandchildren epic poems about legendary heroes and about the formation of the universe and life on this earth.

Under the roof of the communal house, every night, from a young age, the child follows his or her father or mother to attend village gatherings at the communal house.

Around the fire, through chatting, singing, playing, and even hanging out with a jar of wine, the elders passed on to the younger generations, from generation to generation, how to sow rice on the fields, how to watch the weather, how to live with the forest and with people, how to behave with the elderly, the young, acquaintances, strangers, friends and enemies, the living and the dead, and with gods.

Under the roof of the communal house, villagers meet, discuss and decide on major and minor issues related to the villagers' lives; it is the place to receive guests of the village; and the place where the village elder presides over the implementation of religious rituals of the village community.

The communal house is built on the most beautiful piece of land in the village. Photo: TH

In the past, the village also had a communal house, although it was small but it was a place for activities. One year, a storm destroyed the communal house. Seven years ago, the villagers built a small wooden house, called the cultural house, to serve as a meeting place.

However, the old and the young are sad. Because this is still not the communal house in everyone's mind.

It is a joy that recently, the State supported the villagers to build a new communal house. The villagers enthusiastically contributed their labor and money, with the hope of quickly completing the communal house.

After several months of worry, the communal house was built on the most beautiful piece of land in the village, sturdy and imposing, making old man A Thor laugh forever, as his daughter said, "the old man can't close his mouth anymore."

The story dragged on and on. I dozed off by the warm fire. Outside, the mountain wind howled, signaling the change of seasons.

And also in that dream, I saw old man A Thor smiling with satisfaction as he looked at the tall, majestic communal house in the majestic wilderness.

Thanh Hung