About Xu Doai, listen to stories of hundreds of professions

Speaking of the Doai region, we must mention Ba Vi mountain, a mountain range that has long been in the consciousness of the Vietnamese community as a sacred mountain, associated with the worship of Tan Vien Son Thanh, also known as Son Tinh, one of the "Four Immortals" - the four greatest gods in ancient beliefs. Saint Tan is considered a lucky god of the Vietnamese people since the time of the legendary Hung Kings, symbolizing the survival of the ancient Vietnamese people. The Ba Vi - Son Tay mountain area forms the westernmost part of the Doai region and the territory of Hanoi, surrounded by the Red River and the Da River to the north and west, and the Tich River to the east, creating an area with alluvial soil and forest land. That unique ecosystem has created the foundation for villages growing industrial crops in the foothills of Ba Vi district, such as 9 villages in Ba Trai commune processing tea, or the traditional medicine processing profession of the Dao people. Villages of tea, herbal medicine, tapioca flour, and vermicelli… clustered together in the semi-mountainous hamlets bordering the Red River and the Da River, are a sign of a simple way of life that relies on nature. Ba Vi Mountain is truly a “mountain of blessing” for the Vietnamese people. Son Tay town has long attracted tourists thanks to famous cultural relics such as the laterite citadel, Duong Lam ancient village, Mia pagoda, Va temple, the temple of two kings Phung Hung and Ngo Quyen... but besides that, there are local specialties of craft villages such as Phu Nhi rice cake, Ngoc Kien lace embroidery, Duong Lam peanut candy, and Mong Phu soy sauce. The old song about the province “Ha Tay, the silk village”, the name of the old province including Ha Dong and Son Tay areas - “Ba Vi white milk, Chay area golden rice” - originally associated with the name of the dairy farm, is now also the profession of many villages in the Ba Vi area, providing dairy products, creating a brand of the land of Xu Doai. The song about a time when “the Tich and Da rivers were covered with immense silk” or the song about the heroic cow herder Ho Giao in the 1960s, all speak of the talent and diligence of the workers of the Doai region, which still proves their vitality today. The villages always have red fires in their cooking and drying furnaces, bustling with the sound of weaving in all the districts in the western part of the Day River, continuing to form a continuous flow of life. The hands of the people of the Doai region are not smooth, the timbre of the Doai region's voice is rough and heavy, these are the results of a hard-working lifestyle, constantly working to create products for life. The reputation of the land of hundreds of crafts has created a pure identity of the ancient land, preserving the traces of customs that have not faded.

Heritage Magazine