Listening to Tan Do stories under the stilt house

A beautiful, green corner of Tan Do.

Village communal house - a place to revive memories

The road to Tan Do, Van Lang commune (formerly Hoa Binh commune, Dong Hy) winds softly along the green tea hills, interspersed with moss-covered stilt houses nestled under the shade of fruit trees.

Tan Do is small, with only 123 households and 475 people, nearly 90% of whom are Nung ethnic people. The people here have almost completely preserved the customs and practices passed down through many generations. People in Tan Do live on two rice crops, one corn crop, plus tea and forest. About thirty laborers in the village work far away, the rest are still attached to the land, cherishing the village traditions.

Mrs. Au Thi Lan, Party Cell Secretary and Head of the Front Work Committee, welcomed us with a cup of sparkling green tea. Mrs. Lan was proud of the place where she lives: The most precious thing of Tan Do is probably the 67 stilt houses, many of which are almost original. Some houses are over a hundred years old, made of ironwood, ironwood columns, and tiled roofs. Later, many houses were rebuilt, but most of them are still stilt houses.

There are houses over a hundred years old, made of ironwood, ironwood columns, and tiled roofs. More importantly, even though these stilt houses have added conveniences such as televisions, refrigerators, etc., they still retain the “soul of the Nung people” in every corner of the house.

Listening to Mrs. Lan's story, I understood more that the old customs are still carefully preserved by the people of Tan Do: On the night of the 30th of Tet, every family slaughters a capon and sets up a pole in front of the yard; on the 10th of January, people clean up the remaining leaves used to wrap banh chung and release them into the water to wish all family members good luck all year round; on the 15th of January, they hold a pole lowering ceremony... These seemingly simple rituals contain profound philosophies of life that no one needs to explain.

One of the oldest houses in the neighborhood is currently owned by Mr. Lam Van Quyet and his wife.

One of the oldest houses in the neighborhood now belongs to Mr. and Mrs. Lam Van Quyet. The stilt house has 54 pillars and ironwood panels that have been stained by time. On the floor, the fire still burns with red coals all year round, the fire keeps the house warm and connects generations.

Quyet, his wife, and their children still cherish and preserve that tradition. Only the strict rules of the past, such as women having to sit in a certain position in the house, have now faded into memory, becoming stories told by the fire on winter nights.

The windows and roof tiles still bear the marks of time.

In the period of 2022-2024, the project of Preserving the traditional cultural village of the Nung ethnic group associated with economic development and community tourism in Tan Do will be implemented. The main items include: restoring and embellishing the communal house; building a community house; preserving ancient house models and intangible cultural values.

Following Mrs. Lan’s footsteps, we visited the communal house, the cultural “heart” of the community. Tan Do communal house is a cultural and religious center for the people in the village, built around the beginning of the 20th century.

The temple worships the following gods: Cao Son Quy Minh Dai Vuong, Duc Ong Tong Doc Do Doc Dai Than, Duc Ong Linh Van Ky Sy Dai Than... According to legend, these gods had the merit of fighting bandits, protecting villagers, and keeping the border peaceful.

Tan Do Communal House has now been restored on a gentle hill, with a T-shaped house, an area of nearly 60 square meters, and a curved fish-tail tile roof. The communal house worships the gods and ancestors who reclaimed the land, established villages, and kept the border peaceful.

Every January 4th, this place lights up with a festival. At that moment, Tan Do people seem to go back in time, to meet their roots in the present, to tell their ancestors that the old tradition is still present in today's life.

Community center of Tan Do people.

Right next to the communal house is the newly built community cultural activity house, following the traditional architecture of the Nung people: 54 wooden pillars placed on stone bases, rafters, beams, purlins... all made of wood, thick tile roof, nearly 200m² wide. The building is both spacious and intimate, becoming a living space, a place to preserve and spread the identity of Tan Do.

Keep the old spirit in every house

We visited the family of Mrs. Be Thi Yen, owner of a stilt house of nearly 190 square meters, built in 1975 with 56 sturdy ironwood pillars.

Mrs. Yen smiled gently and said: My house was selected to participate in the project, so we raised the monolithic stone column 50cm higher, built a two-story toilet, made a concrete yard of nearly 80 square meters and poured more than 50 meters of road leading to the house. Life is much more convenient, but the house is still the same as before. We hope to have the opportunity to welcome tourists to stay, so that they can better understand the lifestyle of the Nung people as well as feel the affection of the people of Tan Do.

The house of Mrs. Be Thi Yen's family is continuing to be invested in and renovated.

Not far away is Mr. Ly Hong Thai's house, peacefully located in the middle of a lush garden. Mr. Thai received us in a cool, airy room, his voice low and slow: The households that received support all live near the cultural house. Each family is repaired according to their specific situation, not necessarily the items are the same. We also got to learn about the homestay model in many places in the province. From there, my children and I discussed how to renovate the garden so that guests will have the best impression.

Mr. Thai was born and raised in a family with a revolutionary tradition. His father died just 20 days before the country was completely at peace. Perhaps that is why he cherishes his family even more, considering preserving this stilt house as a way to continue the efforts and memories of his father, as well as reminding himself that the sacrifices of the previous generation have turned into peace for today.

Mr. Ly Hong Thai's spacious house is ready to welcome visitors.

As the conservation project comes to an end, a new journey for Tan Do begins. Five supported households are now ready to open their doors to welcome visitors to experience community tourism . Visitors can wear indigo shirts, learn to sing sli, join the locals in setting up the pole on New Year’s Eve, go down the hill to pick tea leaves and then roast them by hand on a red-hot wood stove.

Mrs. Au Thi Lan's eyes lit up with hope: We, the people of Tan Do, will tell our own stories to tourists, so that whoever comes here will bring a bit of the village's soul back home.

As the afternoon falls, the sound of children playing on the porch and the sli voice echoes from the cultural house. In Tan Do, preservation does not mean standing still, but development starts from the old values.

Source: https://baothainguyen.vn/van-hoa/202509/duoi-nep-nha-san-nghe-chuyen-tan-do-6b809d0/