Like a child skipping back to the village...

The old road back to my hometown is full of emotions. Photo: THUY BAT NHI

These are fragments of emotions that are difficult to put into words, from the "older generation" in the city, with a lingering nostalgia for things that are long gone...

Those who are "longing"

Mr. Pham Xuan Quang (residing in Thanh Khe, Da Nang ) always considers himself a "retrospective" person. He left his hometown of Dai Loc when he was still a schoolboy. "Back then, my family was so poor, my parents sent me to live with my uncle so I could go to school. During the war, we lacked even a grain of rice in the village, but my parents only hoped their children could get an education. So, when my uncle let me stay and study, I was overjoyed. That's how I've lived in Da Nang until now."

Mr. Quang counts the time, counting the years he's spent in this city, "in the blink of an eye, several decades have passed." When he first came to Da Nang, the area around the Hue intersection was still muddy and swampy. His uncle's house was near what is now Huynh Ngoc Hue Street, but there was no road access for vehicles, and the area around the house was full of sand dunes. The entire Thanh Khe district at that time was covered in dense clumps of bamboo. After learning to read and write, and then leaving to join the resistance, becoming a cadre participating in the Youth Volunteer movement to liberate Da Nang, Mr. Quang thought he would only be able to look back at his "far-off" homeland.

"But after retiring and settling down with my children, I still love going back to my hometown. Several times a year, when there are family gatherings and ancestral worship ceremonies, I always go back. I go back to the village, to see my parents' house, and to visit relatives," Mr. Quang excitedly recounted.

However, to be honest, when he returned to his village, he felt like he was reliving his childhood. "It was so much fun. Walking from the street into the house, I remembered my childhood friends, greeting my uncles and aunts, remembering the person who gave me some sweet potatoes, the person who gave me money to buy a Tet outfit… When Tet came, wearing a traditional dress, standing in the courtyard, looking up at the sky, feeling love for my parents, breathing in that exhilarating, intoxicating atmosphere, it was truly wonderful, truly indescribable."

Mr. Quang's feelings, as he sees them, resonate with his contemporaries – the generation that lived through the ravages of war, who have witnessed Da Nang's gradual urbanization. He compares it to his hometown, which changes year after year, and how each generation of young people grows up and leaves their villages. Sitting together, they naturally share a common sentiment. In some secluded corner of Da Nang, Hoi An, or Hue, one can easily find elderly people with gray hair sitting alone, lost in thought on a late winter or late spring afternoon, seemingly at peace but deeply melancholic.

Those people, if you simply evoke memories of Tet celebrations of the past, old customs, and childhood stories, will transform into completely different people, laughing and chattering incessantly, constantly recounting tales…

Return to yourself

When old men in their seventies gather together, they often begin their conversations with stories about their hometowns.

People from the city return to their hometowns to visit ancestral graves during the spring festival, on the first day of Tet in Dien Ban. Photo: Xuan Hien

There's a vast space of memories in the hearts of those old friends, so they call each other by informal names and "old man's names." Especially the scenes of temples and pagodas from their childhood, the village festivals in the first and second months of the year for those impoverished children of the past... The emotions of these "past their prime" truly never fade.

Pharmacist Vo Dinh Dieu, who has lived two-thirds of his life in Da Nang and left the pharmaceutical profession three years ago, admits that he has never forgotten his hometown of Cau Hai ( Thua Thien Hue ).

In recent years, it's safe to say that he spends more than half the year returning to his village, attending to one matter after another, from family affairs to village matters. He himself remarked that each time he returns to the village, he feels like a child again, "skipping along the road," seeing the scenery and remembering his hometown, seeing the trees and remembering the people...

“Actually, people like me, being too old, when we tell stories of the past, we only see poverty and hardship; the young people of today don't find it relevant. But what we must always emphasize is that through our life experiences, we need to help the younger generation not forget the rules, ethics, and customs that our ancestors have cultivated for generations, passing down to future generations as solid, deeply rooted foundations,” the old pharmacist reflected. With that thought in mind, he determined that his visits to the village were opportunities to record and document the necessary customs and rituals so that the next generation would not forget their roots and would not forget the respect and reverence for their ancestors.

For people like Mr. Pham Xuan Quang and pharmacist Vo Dinh Dieu, returning to their hometown is not simply about bringing back memories. They return to their village, or rather, their journey to their village is a return to their true selves!

Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/nhu-tre-tho-chan-sao-ve-lang-3150152.html