Spreading Han Nom values in modern life

In a small house in Tho Tang town, Vinh Tuong district (old) now Tho Tang commune, Phu Tho province, Mr. Pham Van Thuc's free class has existed for more than a decade. Since 2011, with the desire to prevent the words of his ancestors from being lost, Mr. Thuc - a retired cadre with a deep understanding of Han Nom - opened a free class for the elderly in the area. No formal lesson plans, no blackboard or white chalk, just a few old books and sincere passion. Each class begins with laughter, discussion of words and ends with excitement as each stroke of the pen brings the students closer to traditional cultural history.

In the early years, the class only had a few elderly people coming to it out of curiosity. However, the more they learned, the more they felt they were being nurtured by a deep cultural stream. Thanks to the support of the Provincial Han Nom Club, the class gradually became more crowded, and the number of people who knew and could read Han Nom in the locality also increased accordingly. Many people, after becoming familiar with the characters, continued to become the nucleus to teach the villagers.

The free Han Nom class of the provincial Han Nom Club continues to teach and spread the value of this ancient writing to the community.

In 2016, the movement spread to Thuong Trung commune, now Vinh Tuong commune, where another free class was opened, supported by the provincial Han Nom Club and Mr. Thuc. The classes were not only a time to learn to read and write, but also a place for the elderly to meet and discuss genealogy, legends, royal decrees, parallel sentences - types of documents that, without someone knowledgeable about Han Nom, many generations later would not be able to fully understand the meaning. Thanks to that, the village's written heritage was "decoded", circulated and preserved more systematically.

Not stopping at the elderly, the provincial Han Nom Club also actively teaches writing to teenagers. The weekend afternoon classes become a meeting place for many students who love ancient culture. They listen to stories about the origin of writing, practice writing each mark and comma, and come into contact with pages of documents that have been stained by time. When a child carefully writes the word "Nhan", "Duc" or "Tam", it is also the time when traditional moral values are planted in their souls naturally and deeply.

To motivate students, classes regularly organize Han Nom writing competitions. These competitions are not formal, but are always full of excitement. For many students, the exam paper is not only a place to show off their handwriting but also a testament to the process of self-training, touching a part of the nation's heritage. Some people carefully write each letter according to the ancient model, others create soft strokes to express their own personality. Through that, the writing revives with the love of culture of many generations.

Many elderly people, after being able to read and write fluently, volunteered to use their knowledge of Han Nom to help people write petitions to pray for peace, health, and a favorable harvest. The handwritten petitions in Han characters, with graceful strokes and thick incense smoke during each spring festival, not only have a spiritual meaning but also contribute to preserving traditional customs that have existed for hundreds of years. That is why giving words at the beginning of Spring - a familiar activity of Vietnamese people - becomes even more meaningful. When the elderly in traditional long dresses and turbans solemnly write the words "Phuc", "Loc", "Tho", the Tet atmosphere seems more complete because of the intersection between the past and the present.

Spreading Han Nom values in modern life

Giving calligraphy at the beginning of spring - a beautiful cultural feature of Vietnamese people

The revival of Han Nom is not just about teaching and learning. It is a journey to preserve a part of the core Vietnamese culture. Because in each page of Han Nom text is a story about the origin of a village, about the history of a family, about rituals, customs, folk knowledge, about personality and human ethics.

It is thanks to the perseverance of people like Mr. Thuc, members of the provincial Han Nom Club and students of all ages that the Han Nom heritage has not fallen into oblivion, even becoming a thread connecting the past with the present so that Phu Tho people in particular and Vietnamese people in general can continue to identify themselves in the flow of national culture. That heritage deserves to be cherished, preserved and spread by hands and hearts that still have the love for the words of their ancestors.

Le Minh

Source: https://baophutho.vn/lan-toa-gia-tri-han-nom-trong-nhip-song-hien-dai-243898.htm