At the "Northern tip" of the Fatherland

HNN - On that peak, I saw the sky and clouds so blue, so vast and yet so close and intimate. On that windy peak, a silent emotion welled up in me, I was standing at the sacred northernmost point of the Fatherland which the writer Nguyen Tuan, in the 1960s, called "the northernmost tip".

That peak is Lung Cu flagpole, on top of Dragon Mountain, 1,468 meters above sea level in Lung Cu commune - Ha Giang (old), now Tuyen Quang province.

The night before preparing for the visit to Lung Cu flagpole, Ms. Thanh Ha, the group leader, told us: "Tomorrow morning, we will wear Hue ao dai to take souvenir photos with Lung Cu flagpole." The tour had been planned, but after hearing the group leader "make an appointment" to wear Hue ao dai, all the women were happy.

Women, bustling with choices of costumes, also have their own lovely look. We sisters also know how to choose Ao Dai so that Hue leaves its mark everywhere with the unique look of the ancient capital: Ao Dai of the Nguyen Dynasty, Ao Dai with pictures of the Imperial City, Truong Tien Bridge, Thien Mu Pagoda, Hue purple Ao Dai. I silently watched the graceful ladies in the traditional costumes of Vietnamese women (the Ao Dai that accompanied them over a thousand kilometers from Hue to Hanoi , then to Ha Giang), realizing that in the love of the Fatherland there is a passionate love of Hue, in the greatness of the country's shape there is the shadow of the homeland, of which the Ao Dai is a very gentle representative, very Hue, the land considered the cradle of Vietnamese Ao Dai.

After climbing more than 800 steps, exactly 839 steps, you will reach the foot of Lung Cu flagpole. The higher you go, the more you stop to look down at the valley below, the more you can broaden your horizons to see the beautiful picture of Ha Giang, the more you see that this landscape is not only created by nature but also by human contribution. Lung Cu - this mountain and this valley is millions of years old, old mountains, green mountains, towering stone mountains, cat-ear stone mountains arranged as if arranged by the hand of some god, and people, over thousands of years in this land, have left their settlement process as well as their development mark with the image of yellow-colored earthen wall houses with characteristic yin-yang tiled roofs, legendary terraced fields.

The sun shines its golden rays down on the village, near and far, all are green. This season, on the terraced fields, the young rice is green, the hills are covered with the green of diligence and hard work. Looking down from this high peak, the road along the mountain slopes connecting the clusters of houses seems to stretch on forever, sometimes hidden, sometimes revealed. The golden sunlight pours like honey over the vast valley. A picture of nature and human life blending together, both beautiful as a dream and real as life.

On this peak, I feel more deeply the teachings of our ancestors about the "sacred soul of the mountains and rivers", from ancient times until today, every inch of border land is a part of the country's body:

"Lung Cu flag flutters

Amidst the clouds of the Fatherland

The fence is as hard as rock.

"Border spirit protects the country".

(Tran Trung Thanh)

On the top of Dragon Mountain, at the foot of Lung Cu flagpole, I listen from my heart and have deep sympathy with writer Nguyen Minh Chau when he wrote: "Every homeland's sky is the sky of the Fatherland". The sky of Tuyen Quang today, the first days of autumn, the clouds and mountains are vast, the Fatherland's flag flies high on the top of Dragon Mountain, a peaceful day in the border mountainous area is a happy day for the country.

Xuan An

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/van-hoa-nghe-thuat/o-mom-tot-bac-cua-to-quoc-157169.html