Community tourism on Van Xuan land

Every spring, tourists come together to visit relics, scenic spots, and tourist attractions to learn more about the values and traditional cultural identities of ethnic groups. From the district center, Cam Ba Thuoc temple is the first attractive invitation that makes tourists continue to go to the ancient land of Trinh Van, now Van Xuan commune (Thuong Xuan), where there are caves, temples, communal houses, and villages of the Thai and Muong people.

Community tourism on Van Xuan land Hon Can area will be an attractive destination for tourists when coming to Van Xuan.

Aiming to take community tourism as a fulcrum in the development of advanced new rural areas, Mr. Luong Cong Tham, Chairman of the People's Committee of Van Xuan commune, was very excited when talking about the tourism potential of his locality. After Thuong Xuan district had a project to develop community tourism until 2025, with a vision to 2030, Van Xuan commune reached the new rural area goal in 2020. This is the premise for the commune to start building community tourism in the coming time.

When talking about Van Xuan, we cannot help but mention the Han Lady Festival, which has just been recognized as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage. The main space of the festival is in Muong Cave. To get to Muong Cave (Cang Khen village) to see the stalactites appearing in the shape of a young woman resting, elephants, and petrified war horses sitting in attendance, people previously had to wade across the Nhong River and then climb into the cave. Now, the people of Lum Nua and Cang Khen villages have donated land to widen the path leading to the cave. Not too majestic, but when stepping into Muong Cave, the Thai people feel like they are energized and have more faith. The story of Han Lady, who was beautiful in appearance and character and brave enough to sacrifice herself for the peace of the village, still reminds the people of gratitude. Coming to the festival, in addition to the spiritual element, the people of Trinh Van land can also enjoy singing and dancing around the flower tree, playing con throwing, to re, pushing sticks, making rows, jumping on bamboo poles and beating gongs.

Also in Lum Nua village, Van Xuan commune, the restoration of the Nine-Chamber Temple festival where the buffalo offering ceremony to heaven is held on Pu Pen peak is underway. According to Dr. Hoang Minh Tuong's records: Before the buffalo offering, following the instructions of the shaman of Chieng Van village, the people in the village took the buffalo to the river to bathe thoroughly, fed it with grass that the buffalo liked, then the shaman performed a rebirth ceremony, lit incense, sprinkled wine on the buffalo's head, neck, and body and prayed: "Today, on a good day and a good month, Lum Nua village, Chieng Van village is holding a ceremony to worship Heaven. (...) Precious buffalo, dear buffalo, the villagers reincarnated so that the buffalo can return to the other side of the mountain, to the ancestors, to the village and heaven, sacred buffalo, precious buffalo, please bless the village with good health, good crops, don't be sad when the buffalo goes far away, buffalo!". After the awakening ceremony, praying for heaven and earth to witness, the villagers lead the buffalo to Ta Pha wharf - the wharf of Heaven to bleed, slaughter the buffalo and make offerings. After the ceremony, the nearby villages and faraway villages together pay their respects to the King of Heaven and the gods, clean up the offerings and return to the long, spacious stilt house, where everyone enjoys the blessings together, drinks rice wine... young and old, men and women talk and laugh together in shared joy.

The white buffalo offering ceremony to worship Heaven on Pu Pen hill is currently mainly held at the Cam clan level in Lum Nua village. Instead of holding it for the whole month, the clan only holds it on the 3rd of January, in time to participate in the Nang Han festival. “Currently, Van Xuan commune is in the process of building the Nine-Chamber Temple with the hope of restoring and developing the buffalo offering ceremony to worship Heaven into a festival for the Thai people in the province in general and on Trinh Van land in particular,” said Mr. Luong Cong Tham, Chairman of the People’s Committee of Van Xuan commune.

When mentioning the historical tradition of Trinh Van land, it is impossible not to mention the Cam family with names such as Cam Ba Hien, Cam Ba Thuoc... According to the books of the National Dynasty, Dai Nam Nhat Thong Chi ( Thanh Hoa province, volume 2), it is recorded: In 1837, there was a Mr. Cam Ba Hien (the 3rd generation ancestor of Mr. Cam Ba Thuoc), who followed the army to quell the rebellion, then was captured, enticed, and bribed. Not obeying, he was killed. Therefore, King Minh Mang praised him as a loyal person, posthumously awarded him the title of Chanh Doi Tong Nguc, built a temple in the hamlet and had a plaque engraved with the two words "Trung Tiet" to praise him. The book Dai Nam Thuc Luc added: The court officials made a petition to King Minh Mang, 469 people were brought to worship at Trung Nghia temple, and the king approved. Mr. Cam Ba Hien and 152 others were worshiped at the altar on the west side, promoted from captain to captain. Previously, at his temple in Lum Nua village, there was a stone stele erected by his descendants in 1911, recording the above content.

At the end of the 19th century, the Cam family also had Mr. Cam Ba Thuoc, a man of great learning and talent, with a patriotic heart and love for the people. Responding to the Can Vuong edict, he raised the flag of uprising, building Trinh Van into a resistance base against the French colonialists for 11 years from 1884 to 1895. After many battles, due to the imbalance of forces, the insurgents suffered heavy losses, food and weapons were exhausted, Cam Ba Thuoc decided to disband the insurgents and leave the base to be captured by the enemy, avoiding losses of soldiers and people in the area. He was executed at the age of 36. Mourning his sacrifice, the people built temples to worship him in Lum Nua (Van Xuan), Coc Che (Xuan Le), and worshiped him at Cua Dat temple.

Unfortunately, the temple of the two men in Lum Nua village is no longer preserved. Currently, the commune is constructing the Cam Ba Hien temple to meet spiritual needs and at the same time serve as a source of information to help people understand the land and people of Van Xuan.

To develop community tourism, Van Xuan commune has a project to build Hang Cau village as a pilot. Compared to 9 other villages, Hang Cau is located at the end of the commune but has many advantages in terms of climate. Coming here, visitors can visit Thien Thuy waterfall (also known as Mu waterfall) - a complex of four waterfalls lying on top of each other under the majestic Pu Ta Leo range. For those who love to explore , Thien Thuy waterfall is an attractive journey. To reach the waterfall, visitors must overcome more than 500m of forest road, climb slopes, pass through hundreds of years old trees... It is a complex of waterfalls arranged in a circular shape, stretching nearly 1km. Coming here, visitors can not only admire the beautiful waterfall but also experience the wild natural space of Xuan Lien Nature Reserve. All of that beauty is the potential for Van Xuan commune to exploit tourism. In particular, since the concrete road leading from Provincial Road 519 was built, the number of tourists visiting Thien Thuy waterfall has increased day by day. In the summer, this place welcomes hundreds of visitors every day.

Also in Hang Cau village, near Thien Thuy waterfall, Hon Can area owns a part of the immense, blue Cua Dat lake. Leading us around Hon Can area, Mr. Le Huu Toan, head of Hang Cau village introduced: Soon, in this lake area, visitors can take a boat to see the surrounding scenery, then walk into the houses of the people, sit on stilt houses to drink water and chat; enjoy khap and xuong music, lean over a jar of wine and eat traditional dishes such as bamboo rice, river fish, wild pigs, hill chickens...

Talking about the advantages of Hang Cau village, the village party secretary, Mr. Le Van Hong said: Hang Cau village currently has 176 households, of which 102 are Kinh households. With the advantage of being located right in Xuan Lien Nature Reserve, the villagers are making efforts to develop the economy, in which exploiting community tourism is a sustainable direction. Hang Cau village is striving to achieve the model new rural village by 2025.

Mr. Luong Cong Tham, Chairman of Van Xuan Commune People's Committee, said: The commune has 1,251 households, of which the Thai ethnic group accounts for 52.8%, the Kinh ethnic group accounts for 45.2%, the rest are other ethnic groups. With the leadership and direction of the District Party Committee Standing Committee, the efforts of the Party Committee, the government and the people of all ethnic groups in the area, Van Xuan commune is continuing the roadmap to build an advanced new-style rural commune, maintaining its position as a leading commune in the "5 Xuan" cluster (including 5 communes Xuan Chinh, Xuan Le, Xuan Thang, Xuan Cao, Van Xuan) of Thuong Xuan district.

Taking community tourism as a fulcrum for the development of advanced new rural areas is the way that Van Xuan commune is doing to promote the traditional cultural values of Chieng Van Muong village in general, and Trinh Van land in particular; at the same time, develop the economy, build a prosperous life for the people. Hopefully, with the existing potential, Van Xuan will soon be an attractive destination on the Thanh Hoa tourism map.

Article and photos: CHI ANH

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