Bamboo from my hometown

Bamboo has many meanings in the material and spiritual life of the villagers. On summer afternoons, there is nothing better than hanging a hammock under the bamboo trees and taking a deep nap! Or when the monsoon season comes, the bamboo drops its golden leaves and spins, looking very beautiful. Whenever the bamboo is sad, it makes a "creaking, creaking" sound that is also heart-wrenching.

For us kids at that time, bamboo could be used to make lanterns for the Mid-Autumn Festival or the sides of kites that filled the sky with wind. And all the products made from bamboo were of high quality. Bamboo was a gift from nature to the villagers. How precious it was!

Since ancient times, villagers have known how to make products from bamboo to serve their lives. Bamboo beds are very durable over time if you know how to choose bamboo and process it properly. Then baskets, winnowing baskets, pond scoops... those things are always associated with the lives of villagers. Bamboo also helps villagers build solid houses, sheltering them from stormy seasons. When building houses, bamboo is often chosen by experienced people. Choose bamboo trees with old thorns, thick bamboo buds and not too much warping. To prevent termites, people often soak bamboo in ponds or lakes for a year. Because the economic conditions of the villagers in the past were still limited, taking advantage of materials other than bamboo to build houses was necessary.

When living in a house made of bamboo and leaves, we feel so close and familiar. Bamboo stems and leaves always have a distinctive fragrance, difficult to confuse with other types of plants. Those who have lived in the countryside, when far away from home, will find it hard to forget the “bamboo scent” of their homeland.

Nowadays, the life of the villagers is much more prosperous than before, very few people are willing to build houses made of bamboo and leaves anymore. They replace them with concrete houses for convenience and to suit the times. But that does not mean that the bamboo groves of the homeland are completely lost. Day by day, in the countryside, bamboo still whispers to the wind, the eternal stories of nature. And to people, bamboo is always loyal, protecting...

TRAN THANH NGHIA

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