Kon Bah village builds new communal house after fire

Rise from the ashes

Kon Bah village communal house was revived more than a year after being burned down by fire (August 1, 2024). The roof stands tall, imprinted in the blue sky of the plateau like a proud stamp.

Kon Bah village celebrates new communal house. **Photo: Hoang Ngoc**

The village slaughtered a buffalo and a pig to celebrate the new communal house. On the large horizontal beams, three important dates were recorded to remind the villagers: the groundbreaking date June 20, the completion date September 5, and the move-in date October 15.

Mr. Mao, the village chief, said: After the fire, only 8 rosewood pillars from the old communal house could be reused. The rest of the materials had to be replaced with new ones. The village has 139 households, including 135 Bahnar households and 4 Kinh households who worked together to rebuild the communal house. The village fund had more than 50 million VND, the villagers contributed more than 80 million VND, and a business supported 100 million VND to build the house. But bigger than any amount of money were the thousands of working days of the villagers, which could not be converted into any material value, to build this house, a symbol of Bahnar culture.

After the communal house burned down, Kon Bah villagers quickly started building a new house. **Photo: Nguyen Linh Vinh Quoc**

For many months, Kon Bah village has been bustling with the atmosphere of work. Early in the morning, women go up the mountain to cut cogon grass, men go into the forest to find rattan, bamboo... On Fridays and Saturdays, villagers gather on the large land, together to join together to assemble thatch, erect poles, and weave bamboo blinds. The elderly share their experiences, the young contribute their efforts. All hearts turn to the new house that is gradually taking shape.

Learning from the previous fire, this time the village invited electricians to install a safe and proper lighting system. “We remind each other to keep the communal house as the heart of the village, so that nothing unfortunate happens again,” said Village Chief Mao.

Everyone is proud to contribute to rebuilding our common home. **Photo: Nguyen Linh Vinh Quoc**

Village elder Hyuuh has built and repaired the communal house with the villagers many times, but this time, his feelings are more special than ever: “Last year, seeing the communal house burned down, I was very sad. Building a house now is much more difficult than before, it cannot be done with money. After several village meetings, everyone expressed their desire to build a new house. Even though the fire burned down the communal house, it did not destroy the solidarity and determination of the villagers in restoring their common home.”

For the Bahnar people, the communal house is not only a place for village meetings, but also a place to teach children to play gongs, to pass on values and life experiences; a place where boys and girls from Kon Bah village and neighboring villages meet, play soccer and volleyball every day. Therefore, this space also becomes a place to connect Bahnar communities in Ha Tay.

Festival joy

Bahnar boys and girls rejoice on the day of celebrating the new communal house. **Photo: Hoang Ngoc**

On the day of returning to the new communal house, everyone’s face was radiant. Under this common roof, every rattan, every wooden beam, every layer of thatch was soaked with the sweat and warmth of the villagers’ hands. It was not only a cultural work, but also a symbol of the faithful love and responsibility of each person towards the village and the community. Ms. Kun expressed: “It was very hard to build the house, but today, standing in the new house, I feel very happy and proud.”

Not only is it a celebration of the new communal house, it is also an occasion to gather the traditional culinary quintessence of the Bahnar people in Ha Tay. In addition to bamboo-tube rice, grilled meat, and pung porridge, which are common dishes in the village, each family contributes traditional dishes to the festival. Each family contributes what they have, such as wild rattan shoots, fern soup with stream crabs, wild banana shoots wrapped in stream fish, dishes made from wild bamboo shoots, etc., creating a flavorful culinary feast.

Happy in the village festival. **Photo: Hoang Ngoc**

The village elders' council used wine to open the ceremony. **Photo: Hoang Ngoc**

Sharing the joy with the villagers were also the leaders of the Party Committee and People's Committee of Ia Khuol commune. Mrs. Ro Cham H'Phik - Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the People's Council of the commune, emotionally said: "To build a large and beautiful communal house with natural materials in this time is not easy. But it is this difficulty that has highlighted the consensus, solidarity and awareness of preserving the culture of the people of Kon Bah village. Only that spirit can revive the traditional communal house in the current context."

From the ashes, Kon Bah village not only revived the communal house as an entity but also revived memories and cultural identity. Perhaps, starting from those values, the Bahnar people in Ha Tay still maintain for themselves a profound and charming cultural beauty, a poetic land for tourism , photography and more...

Source: https://baogialai.com.vn/lang-kon-bah-dung-nha-rong-moi-sau-vu-chay-post569477.html