Dreamy happy village ‘rice in the same pot, money in the same pocket’ Thai Hai

There are many factors to create happiness for people Thai Hai. Happiness comes from maintaining the forest with acacia trees, palm trees, and bamboo poles planted by villagers 20 years ago. Happy because the whole village works together, “eating rice in one pot, spending money in one pocket”.

And especially, the children in the village who went to school have returned to contribute to the village, teaching literacy, tourism, contributing to preserving national culture for friends around the world, making Thai Hai a model. image of community tourism village.

A day in the happy village

Walking on the romantic road between the rows of green trees, Ms. Le Thi Nga – deputy of Thai Hai village – stopped in front of the village gong that is as old as the village itself. Knocking with his own hands, the sound of the gong echoed throughout the mountains and forests, the deputy of Thai Hai village led “golden guests and silver guests” to play with the villagers. And then, the ancient stilt houses of ethnic Tay gradually appearing in the morning mist as if to attract visitors.

Right next to the village yard is a “heritage house on stilts” with the traditional craft of making green tea. Mrs. Nong Thi Hao’s whole family (60 years old) works together to make tea to serve the villagers and make gifts for tourists. Next to the burning fire, visitors can enjoy a cup of green tea with fragrant sticky rice soup. Gathered around are women and sisters who are humming the dot tune to welcome distinguished guests.

Near noon, Mrs. Hao put carefully wrapped boxes of banh che lam in a bamboo basket to bring to the place to introduce the village’s products, then carried a basket of dishes to the food stall to get lunch. In Thai Hai, three meals a day, the whole village gathers together in the food court to eat and tell each other interesting stories in life.

Mrs. Hao was one of the first people to trust and follow the village chief to her new home.

For more than 20 years, her family has been attached to this place for four generations, becoming one of the four most sacred “heritage stilt houses” that the villagers jointly preserve and preserve.

She said: “In the village, no one has to think about money, nor what to eat today because we don’t need to shop. At mealtime, we eat together with everyone. What ingredients do my family need to make cakes? Just report to the front desk. After making tea and cakes, bring them to the village stall to sell to tourists. The village chief takes care of food, education, and accommodation for all villagers.”

Why is it called a happy village? “Because here we live by love for people, trees, flowers. Every day we talk to trees, because trees also have their souls,” Ms. Hao said.

Indeed, big and small matters in the village are all taken care of by the village chief. Children going to school and sick elderly people are all well taken care of. Each family is responsible for each job, there are tea makers and others traditional cakebeekeeping house, herbal medicine house, wine making house, brocade weaving house…

Young people in the village will welcome and guide tourists to visit, then prepare decent meals for people in the village as well as tourists. Everyone is happy to work and doesn’t need to be paid.

All revenues from tourism activities are transferred to the village’s general fund, from there to pay for children to go to school, take care of boys and girls of marriageable age, and take care of the lives of the villagers.

Teach young people to keep the spirit of tradition

The happy village not only retains the traditional houses of the Tay ethnic group, children in the village from preschool to 5th grade all go to school every day in the village.

In addition to teaching literacy, this place also teaches Tay culture and English. The children do not come to class in their usual uniforms, but from the time they were toddlers they were dressed in traditional indigo shirts to make them love the color of their nation’s shirt more. The teachers in the village are also girls who grew up in the village.

“Once upon a time, my parents and the village chief brought the first stilt houses here and lived together in Thai Hai. I love the culture of my people, love the people, love the way of life here.

After being raised by the village chief, he went to school Hanoi Pedagogical University, I chose to return and now teach 20 preschool children who are the village’s descendants. We teach according to the program of the Ministry of Education and Training, then teach children to sing then, play the guitar and experience village work during holidays and Tet”, Ms. Tran Thi Thuy Linh – preschool teacher, Thai Hai village people – said.

The good news spread far and wide, not only the Tay people in Thai Nguyen, but people from other places who knew the village also came and became “brothers of the village”. When returning to Thai Hai, everyone wholeheartedly trusted the village chief and lived in harmony. cultural preservation tradition, raising children to be good people, aiming for a good life.

As Ms. Le Thi Hao is an example. Originally a secondary school teacher in the Iron and Steel area (Thai Nguyen city), when he learned about the conservation village cultural heritage, Mrs. Hao asked to retire and return to Thai Hai with her husband. To date, Ms. Hao has been with the village for 17 years.

As a Kinh teacher, she does not know how to knit. When she returned to the village, she learned from the elders in the village. Now when my children and grandchildren also want to learn how to knit, I know where I can teach them. Every day, at the heritage house about 30 meters from the village school, she teaches the children to weave bamboo baskets.

“She wants the next generation, in addition to learning knowledge in school, to learn more life skills to continue to protect and preserve Traditional culture like what the villagers are doing,” Ms. Hao confided.

The oldest stilt house in Thai Hai village is now 80 years old. When moving to Thai Hai, the traditional stilt house appearance was maintained: the rafters and columns were made entirely of wood, the Tay people’s floors were made of bamboo, and the Tay people still maintained the stove on the stilt house. In the village there are four heritage houses: tea house, pharmacy, cake house and wine house. During the Lunar New Year, people in the village will share four heritage houses to eat and chat at the beginning of the year. Thai Hai people’s preparations for Tet are marked by the New Rice Festival (the 10th day of the tenth lunar month).

The 20-year journey of establishing a happy village

More than 20 years ago, in the Safe Zone of Dinh Hoa, some Tay people demolished their traditional stilt houses to build more comfortable brick houses.

Worried that the next generation will no longer be able to see stilt houses, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Hai, now the village chief, is determined to borrow money to buy back 30 ancient stilt houses to restore the originals. Then she chose the bare hill area of ​​My Hao hamlet (Thinh Duc commune, Thai Nguyen city), where no one lived, to establish a village.

Persevering, the village chief and the first villagers together transported each stilt house from Dinh Hoa Safety Area to Thai Hai. Like “if an ant waits too long, the nest will be full”, each rafter, column, and skewer was dismantled, carefully marked, loaded onto a cart, and gradually transported to the new land.

It took more than 700 days for 30 stilt houses to be moved to Thai Hai from the old village nearly 60km away.

Hands building houses, hands sowing seeds, planting trees, the people of Thai Hai village build together, turning the desolate land into a cool, peaceful green forest in the heart of Thai Nguyen City. Returning to the new place, they had to face many hardships and hardships, even having to plant their own trees for shade. Under the stilt house, buffaloes, chickens, and ducks are raised to fertilize each tree.

The village chief even carried his child into the forest to plant trees. Life back then was not like it is now, everyone had what they could eat, sometimes they only ate rice with sesame salt, but everyone still wanted the village to develop.

Having land and a house, Thai Hai people tell each other to work hard and build a new life. From the first villagers, this place now has nearly 200 people, many families have lived with 3-4 successive generations. By 2014, the village became a tourist area of ​​Thai Nguyen. “When awarded the Best Tourist Village award – voted by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), all the villagers were happy because their culture was known to the whole world,” Ms. Nong Thi Hao said.

Unlike other community tourism areas, Thai Hai was built to preserve the culture of the Tay ethnic group to keep the stilt house style from disappearing. They not only preserve the “body” which is 30 ancient stilt houses, but also the “soul” which is the cultural life and soul of an ethnic group that is still preserved and developed in the heart of the city.

Receiving the “Best Tourist Village” award, tourists know Thai Hai has increased, but the pace of life here is still not caught up, with visitors feeling like they are returning home, blending into the rhythm of the village’s life.

The longer you stay in Thai Hai, the more interesting things there are for visitors to experience and explore. Live like a villager, try making sweet soup and cakes during the day, enjoy festivals throughout the year, eat with villagers at the food court, and light a campfire at night. For Thai Hai people, the stilt houses are still kept intact, cultural and spiritual practices are preserved by the villagers. All traditional occupations of the Tay people are still preserved, from tea making, cake making, beekeeping, wine making, to weaving…

People in the village talk to each other in the Tay language, and children are taught about their roots and culture from the cradle through Then and Tinh songs. When they grow up tomorrow, today’s children will become the owners of the village, continuing the traditional beauty of the ethnic people here.