Bom Bo bustling with new life

Soc Bom Bo today. Photo: DOAN PHU

Bom Bo return day

In 1997, when Song Be province was divided into two provinces, Binh Duong and Binh Phuoc, we visited Bom Bo hamlet many times and visited village elder Dieu Len. Bom Bo hamlet at that time belonged to Dak Nhau commune, Bu Dang district, with simple thatched roofs, wooden walls, and bamboo. The life of the Stieng people in the hamlet was still full of difficulties.

During those years, village elder Dieu Len was just over 50 years old, so he was still strong and sturdy. He often welcomed us in his tin-roofed house with bamboo walls, one of the neatest in the hamlet. We did not mind the extremely arduous road to Bom Bo hamlet to find out if Bom Bo hamlet was still bustling with the sound of rice pounding as in the song "The sound of pounding rice on Bom Bo hamlet" by the late musician Xuan Hong... Although the life of the Stieng people in Bom Bo hamlet was still difficult at that time, village elder Dieu Len still firmly believed in the Party and the State, persevered in his role as the spiritual leader of the people in the hamlet, and fought on the front line of "hunger eradication, poverty reduction, and building a cultural life".

“Bom Bo village has a production area of over 660 hectares, part of which is used for growing wet rice, upland rice and various crops. The Stieng people in Bom Bo village have converted most of the cashew growing area to high- value crops such as coffee, pepper, rubber and fruit trees, combined with raising livestock and working in enterprises, so their lives are quite stable and prosperous” - Deputy Secretary of Bom Bo village Party Cell DIEU DON said.

Returning to Bom Bo hamlet (now Bom Bo village, Bom Bo commune, Dong Nai province), village elder Dieu Len has passed the age of 80 and his health is not as good as before. Although we could not meet the village elder, we still felt warm when asking about Bom Bo hamlet and were told clearly by the young Stieng people and Bom Bo hamlet cadres like village elder Dieu Len when he was young and healthy.

Bom Bo village still welcomed us with the familiar weather of cloudy mornings and heavy rain at noon. The only difference was that after the rain stopped, even though we could comfortably walk around the village, our sandals and shoe soles were still not muddy because the roads in the village were now paved with asphalt or cement concrete from the alley to the house.

Mr. Dieu Nhap (S'tieng ethnic group, Head of the Front Work Committee of Bom Bo village) said that there are only 2 poor households in the whole Bom Bo village (according to the new rural criteria). All the remaining households are well-off, economically prosperous and well-off.

Bom Bo village currently has 176 households with more than 900 people of the Stieng ethnic group. During their lives, many children of the Stieng ethnic group married Kinh people and other ethnic groups... However, that does not destroy the traditional cultural identity of the Stieng people in the village, but also contributes to making the Stieng cultural identity more rich.

Bustling sound of pestle on Bom Bo village

Soc Bom Bo is known for the movement of pounding rice to feed the army of the Stieng people during the resistance war against the US to save the country, the peak was in the Dong Xoai - Phuoc Long Campaign in 1965. The Bom Bo people pounded rice day and night, providing 5 tons of rice to serve the campaign...

Ms. Dieu Thi Xia still preserves the weaving craft of the Stieng people in Bom Bo village.

To make the video “The Stieng people of Bom Bo village sing The sound of pestles on Bom Bo village ”, we requested to record the Stieng people in the village singing the song The sound of pestles on Bom Bo village in their own rustic, simple Stieng voices, without gongs or musical accompaniment. We thought our request would be difficult to fulfill, but the Stieng people supported it very enthusiastically.

“The first time I met the late musician Xuan Hong, who composed the immortal song “The sound of pestles on Bom Bo village ” was around 1990-1992, when the late musician and a group of artists went to Bom Bo village for a cultural exchange. At that time, the Bom Bo villagers gathered in large numbers to meet the artist who made the sound of pestles on Bom Bo village echo throughout the mountains and forests from North to South,” said Mr. Dieu Nhap.

Before singing, Ms. Dieu Thi Xia said that all the Stieng people in the village know this song and even dance to the music and gongs. The song "The sound of pestles on Bom Bo village" by the late musician Xuan Hong has been in the blood and soul of the people of Bom Bo village for many generations. Every festival, the song is sung in the flickering light of the torches that never go out in the heroic and steadfast Bom Bo village.

Besides farming, the Stieng people in Bom Bo also have the custom of raising buffalo and cows.

Although he is Kinh, Mr. Pham Quoc Hung (59 years old) when he married a Stieng woman in Bom Bo village, Mrs. Thi Khap, he knew how to weave baskets, forge knives, and make traditional sa gacs of the Stieng people for use or sale. Mr. Hung is also good at playing gongs, so he was elected as Deputy Head of the Bom Bo village Gong Team to perform and spread Stieng culture during festivals and cultural exchanges with hamlets, villages, and communes in the province.

Mr. Hung and Mrs. Khap's family has 3 children of Kinh - Stieng blood, who are gentle, good at working and singing. Therefore, when singing with a strong Stieng voice, the young man of Kinh - Stieng blood Pham Ly Hung (18 years old, youngest son of Mr. Hung and Mrs. Khap) makes Bom Bo village more bustling. The rhythm of the pestle, the light of the torch in the midst of a prosperous and developed Bom Bo, the Stieng people of Bom Bo village join hands and unite towards a developing Bom Bo...

We said goodbye to Bom Bo village when the rain stopped and the sun was shining, cars and motorbikes were going back and forth on the winding asphalt road towards Highway 14...

The S'tieng Ethnic Cultural Conservation Area in Bom Bo has a total area of over 113 hectares, including 70 hectares of core area. Phase 1 of the Conservation Area Project started construction in 2010, with a total investment of over 85 billion VND. In early 2018, Bu Dang district (old) invested over 20 billion VND from the budget to upgrade, renovate and beautify the conservation area to make it more complete and spacious.

Doan Phu - Ba Thanh - Cong Minh

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/dong-nai-cuoi-tuan/202507/bom-bo-ron-rang-nhip-song-moi-b9931ca/