Spring in Binh Duong is the season when rubber trees change their leaves, bloom and bear fruit. When talking about rubber, people often only think of its sap and wood. If you are not a child of the land where this tree is grown, you probably would not expect that rubber trees have such beautiful flower clusters. Not as famous as the Sua or Plum flowers in the North, rubber flowers have a familiar and simple beauty like the people of the red soil of the East. Rubber flowers are associated with my childhood and old romances.
Rubber flowers are most beautiful on moonlit nights. I still remember my high school years in Tan Uyen, when my classmate sang a few lines of the song Song Be Dem Ngat Huong by musician Phan Huynh Dieu that I still remember to this day. "The moon has just risen, the rubber flowers are gently spreading their fragrance, fragrant in your hair, fragrant in the night wind, calling for spring to come". It must have been since then that every weekend when I returned home, I often went to the backyard and looked up at the rubber tree canopy to admire the white flowers "like a thousand stars, swaying with dew drops dyeing the green buds of young leaves". That was the first time I missed someone, and many pure future plans were drawn under the canopy of pure rubber flowers. In the eyes of that year's female student, it was also sparkling under the canopy of young leaves, the dress had just been changed for a new spring.
Rubber season changes leaves
In my hometown, every family grows rubber trees, planted on their own garden land, not on any farm. To increase the yield, my family also took advantage of the vacant land around the garden to plant a few dozen more trees. So back then, my house was nestled in the middle of a rubber garden, cool all year round. Near Tet, the rubber leaves fell all over, every morning my mother would sweep them into piles and burn them, I often sat and warmed them before going to school, the smell of the leaves still lingered on my old sweater. The rubber garden when it first changed its leaves was also very beautiful, with each color ranging from withered to yellow and then red. That was when the sap harvesting stopped, after the old leaves fell, the rubber trees sprouted new leaves, and then clusters of flowers crowded together to bloom.
Only a few dozen trees were added, but the amount of latex collected was also significant. Combined with the amount harvested from the main garden, rubber latex was the main source of income for my family at that time. Thanks to the white sap, which was likened to mother's milk, my siblings and I grew up. Therefore, for my hometown, the love for rubber is like the love for parents and homeland. If the tree trunk gives clear sap during the years when the tree is still in harvest age, when it is old, it will also bring valuable wood. Not to mention the dried rubber fruit and branches, which are also used to make fire for cooking in daily life. And for romantics like me, rubber flowers give me the most peaceful memories of my childhood.
Rubber flower
On those moonlit nights, clusters of rubber flowers gently spread their fragrance. I wrote naive poems about my dreamy school days. On those nights studying under the flickering light by the window, distracted by each passing breeze, carrying a fragrance that stirred the heart of a girl who was as old as the moon. Unable to contain the feeling of wanting to be closer to the clusters of flowers outside, the girl stepped outside to bathe in the pure fragrance. During my university years away from home, what I remember most were the clusters of rubber flowers that only my hometown had. I wrote a diary on those nights, I entrusted my youthful dreams to the clusters of flowers. I also had sad stories that only the moon, the wind and the flowers understood. The year my old school friend sent a pink card to announce the news, somehow coincided with the time when the rubber flowers bloomed. That night I stood outside in the mist for a long time, my young heart seemed to skip a beat, I didn't know how to describe the unnamed emotions. I could only silently sink into a space that had long protected me like a mother’s womb. Just like later on, I could only silently watch the sawyer cut down the last rubber trees to make way for the planning project.
Rubber flowers are not as fragrant as milk flowers, the scent is very light, gentle in the space filled with moonlight, the moonlight of spring and my youth in it. Youth with proud songs about love and homeland. "Silent night, listening to the gentle breeze shaking the moon. The pollen has a cool scent. Who knows if anyone's heart is still attached. Like me waiting for you, gently and shyly in the green leaves. Silently through the years, my longing. The green color is forever fresh with the homeland...".
I have had rubber flower seasons like that. Every January and February, it seems like the flowers also bloom in clusters in the memories of the old spring.
120 million VND prize for the Eastern Spirit writing contest
The Eastern Spirit Writing Contest organized by Thanh Nien Newspaper in collaboration with Phu My 3 Specialized Industrial Park is an opportunity for readers to share their deep feelings about the land and people of the Southeast provinces (including Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Binh Phuoc, Binh Thuan, Tay Ninh, Ho Chi Minh City), and at the same time contribute good practices, new models, creative and dynamic thinking of Eastern people. Authors can submit entries in the form of essays, memoirs, notes, press reports... Entries must be written in Vietnamese or English (for foreigners) with no more than 1,200 words, and for press reports no more than 1,500 words, with the author's own illustrations or copyrighted photos provided by the author encouraged;
Entries must be new, unused, and not published in any media or publications, or posted on websites, blogs, or social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. of organizations or individuals. Entries must not be printed in the author's own books or general collections until the end of the contest;
Total prize value up to 120 million VND.
Please send your entries to the email address [email protected] or send them by post to the Thanh Nien Newspaper's editorial office: 268 - 270 Nguyen Dinh Chieu, Vo Thi Sau Ward, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City (clearly write on the envelope: Article participating in the Eastern Spirit Contest). The contest will accept entries until November 15, 2023. Articles selected for publication in Thanh Nien Daily Newspaper and Thanh Nien Electronic Newspaper thanhnien.vn will receive royalties according to the editorial office's regulations.
Detailed rules are posted on thanhnien.vn/van-hoa/hao-khi-mien-dong
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