“When I was little, I wished I could grow up quickly so I could leave the village gate. Now I look forward to the weekend so I can go back to my hometown and walk on the village roads,” my friend reminisced. I guess that when they were young, all the children in the village wished to leave their village and go to the big world outside. And then at some point, those same children far from home wished to return to their village.
My hometown Bau Tron village did not have a village gate at that time, and most of the villages in Quang Nam did not have a grand gate like today. The welcome gate connected the village and the fields. The welcome gate was small, but to the villagers, or at least to a child like me at that time, it was extremely special.
For example, on the days I look after the house while my mother goes to work, around noon or dusk I go out to the street to wait for her. When I see her carrying a hoe or carrying a pair of baskets back to the gate, it means she has... arrived home (!).
The same thing happened on the days my mother went to the market. After about half an hour, I went out to the banana leaf-lined alley to look toward the gate. I was “as happy as my mother coming home from the market” when I saw my mother carrying a basket on her hip and walking toward the gate. The gate was always the sign of the village. During the rainy season, people in my village often asked each other “has the water reached the gate yet?” or reported “the water has risen to the gate.”
Later, when my friends and I grew up and went far away, every time we reached the gate, we didn’t say anything but we always considered ourselves as having... come home. The feeling of excitement and nervousness was hard to describe. Because I knew that behind the village gate were the warm hearts of neighbors, relatives, and friends who were always ready to welcome the children of the village. Likewise, every time someone left the village to study or work far away - mainly in the South, relatives would reluctantly see each other off to the gate before saying goodbye.
In the book “Alleys of Life”, architect Hoang Dao Kinh, when talking about the village gate, wrote: “The village gate is not only a milestone, not only a sentry. The village gate is also the name, the “I” of each village”.
And it is true, behind each village gate are many peaceful, simple houses with their own lifestyles, customs, and activities. Perhaps that is why, although the two villages are next to each other, they have different cultures.
Although the countryside is small and increasingly shrinking due to urbanization, the hearts of the villagers are always open to welcome the footsteps of the village's children. And the village gate - whether it is just a simple "welcome gate" or a "gate" built majestically and firmly, is still the "marker" of the village, a special "milestone", a "mark" of love in the heart of each person...
Source
Comment (0)