Leisure talk: October in the Southern Delta

The delta plains are chilly with a few gentle north winds due to the cold air diffusing down from the North. In the mornings when I wake up, I feel the cold air seeping through the mosquito net, I just want to cover my head with a blanket, lie in a little longer, and enjoy the rare gentle moments of nature in a land that is always hot day and night.

In October, the water in the rivers, canals, and streams in the West slowly changes from the gray color of alluvium to a pale green color like it is coated with alum, because this is the time of the changing seasons, the rain has almost stopped. And, the season of long tong fish on the river begins. There are many ways to catch long tong fish: drag nets, traps, cast nets... But the most interesting, attractive, and romantic is still long tong fishing. Choose a long piece of bamboo, dry it, bend it, add a string and a hook, the means of "practicing the trade" is just that simple. The bait is usually cotton worms, spiders, or rice worms. When the water is high, choose a riverbank with the shade of an old tree, sit fishing and let yourself... daydream. When I was in high school, during the summer vacation months, I earned extra money for the new school year in many ways: digging snails, catching mussels, scooping shrimp, hooking crabs... in which, long tong fishing, for me, is both a pastime and a way to make a living. My favorite place to fish for long tong is the old cashew tree in the back corner of my grandmother's garden. I choose this place to "regularly" sit and fish because it is very poetic. A large cashew tree canopy covers the cool canal. The cashew roots spread out to the edge of the canal, creating an ideal fishing spot.

In particular, the tenth lunar month is the season of cashew flowers blooming. Clusters of dark purple cashew flowers cling to the tree trunks, swaying gently in the passing winds, shimmering, shimmering. When the wind is strong, a series of purple threads fall gently onto the clear water, a section of the creek is purple. The fishes raise their heads to the surface of the water to look for food, the space suddenly becomes lyrical in the inherent silence of the quiet countryside where you can hear the sound of fish taking bait.

In October, the flowers of the Chinese clematis, the flowers of the dragon beans, the flowers of the water hyacinth... compete to bloom. Then the young tamarinds also hang on the trees. Nature knows how to harmonize everything so that people can prepare special dishes for their country. The fresh fish is caught, cleaned, and then the garden is picked with a bunch of Chinese clematis flowers and a few dragon beans; the water hyacinth flowers are picked in the river, the tamarind tree in front of the house is climbed to pick a handful of young tamarinds, and some coriander, coriander, and chili peppers are added. And there is a pot of steaming, fragrant sour soup. Sour soup with fish and dipped in clear fish sauce (traditional fish sauce is delicious) with chili peppers and a pot of rice cooked on firewood is... a strange thing!

On the full moon of October, people start to sow marigolds. Almost everyone has a few pots of marigolds, cockscombs, and sedum in front of their house to save money during Tet. Then people plant mustard greens, squash, gourds, and melons to prepare for three days of spring, with plenty in the house and garden, like the neighbors.

Finally, when October comes, the people of the Western countryside are busy preparing for Tet. The tenth lunar month is a month of beautiful and poetic memories for those who have been attached to this peaceful Southern land.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nhan-dam-thang-muoi-dong-bang-chau-tho-phuong-nam-185251115181515855.htm