Indeed, it was only when we touched them to the hand, touched them to the face that we believed that the presence of these ancient polygons was real. Throughout the journey of "climbing high mountains, seeing the banyan fields", countless questions were raised regarding this banyan fields and the village with an extremely poetic name under the banyan fields.
Thien Huong is an ancient village located on a mountain range of unnamed cat ears, which was originally located on the foundation of the Dong Van stone plateau, which was separated from the low-lying areas by sky gates. It can be seen that Thien Huong village is small, but is over 200 years old, of the H'Mong people at a very high level.
Standing at the head of Thien Huong village is on the highest peak of the mountain range, with a view on par with the top of the mountain range perched in front. Between here and there is a vast abyss, sometimes the sky sees a series of blocked border fences. The abyss and mountain slope on the other side is the border between Vietnam and China.
However, the endless feeling of an autumn afternoon standing in the mountain view does not come from the majestic landscape with giant mountains rolling like dragons and barges. The love affair did not flow from that ancient village to the second half of the Thanh - Tru - Hoai - Hai journey due to geological fluctuations.
The emotional source that makes each snail on the hand stand out arises from the energy radiated from more than a dozen ancient banyan trees standing on the border like a pioneering army, like a solid wall growing on the banks of the land looking straight into the mountain range on the other side.
It must be called the "old men" correctly, because the phrase "old men" cannot accurately describe the solemn form of "high up in the air". More than a dozen "old men" are all of the elderly, from over 100 years to 600 years old, with majestic bodies of dozens of people holding tightly, with roots rolling on the ground like giant parrots.
The banyan tree is a tree familiar to the spiritual culture of the Vietnamese people, no less than the rice and bamboo trees. there are banyan trees, water wharves, and communal houses in Vietnamese villages, so banyan trees are grown everywhere, in rural areas, fields, forests, mountains, and urban areas. However, da needs a large amount of land to stick to the roots, spread the roots and have enough water for development.
However, in this rugged land, land is precious more than gold, water is precious more than pearls. Dong Van stone plateau is located at an altitude of 1,400m above sea level, with limestone terrain converted into cat ear stone, cold climate, soil with little or no nutrients, absolutely not enough conditions for multi-crop trees to grow into trees and be ancient for hundreds of years.
However, here a mysterious "old man" complex grows up, denying all previous knowledge. So who knows what the origin of the season is, from 5 - 6 centuries ago during the Later Le Dynasty, when rice was planted on this mountain top, until now, in this area, there is a layer of green "fence" despite all adversities.
In addition, banyan trees are not familiar to the H'Mong people such as corn and peach trees. And traveling throughout the stone plateau, from Dong Van, to Meo Vac, Du Gia... was the only thing that Thien Huong peak had a banyan tree.
In addition, the name Thien Huong of the village is also very different from the place names in the Dong Van stone plateau. Thien Huong - the scent of heaven - seems lost with nearby place names such as: Ma Tia, Lao Xa, Sung La, Lung Cu, Ma Le, Sa Phin...
And another strange thing is that in the center of the forest, there is a temple to worship Lam God, the forest god. We know that in the belief system of the H'Mong people, the word "goddess" is not used but only the word "ghost" is used to refer to ancestral ghosts and natural ghosts.
But Thien Huong village owns a typical dish of the H'Mong culture, the leafy corn wine. This is a traditional village craft, creating a specialty wine that makes "husband drink, wife drunk, horse turn around" in legendary markets.
Thien Huong leafy corn wine is no less famous than Thanh Van corn wine at the foot of Quan Ba sky Gate thanks to the leafy ferment made from 30 different types of medicinal leaves. Therefore, Thien Huong corn wine is clear, strong in taste but when drunk it is still calm, without causing headaches, it has a healing effect.
This type of corn is offered by the villagers at the shrine of the Lam God under the rice fields on the 10th of the 3rd lunar month every year to pray for favorable weather, good harvest, and peace. The bowls of corn wine with multi-leaf sparkling leaves also closely linked the love between the villagers, and with the people of the nearby Ma Tia village.
The roots of the sea turning on the ground like giant buffaloes seemed to care about our doubts. They only stick to the soil very tightly and deeply to try to deeply strengthen the base with the soil, creating a solid foundation for the whole mountain in the face of storms and thunderstorms.
That is the purpose of these banyan trees, there is no need to worry about why I appear here? In this life, there are many questions that can never be found satisfactory answers. As poet Tran Si Dai wrote: The Ta is just a leaf. Our job is green".
It is possible that this banyan tree has grown accidentally or intentionally. But anyway, the mysterious banyan trees on the top of the mountain at the head of Thien Huong village have absorbed the spirit of the country and the humanity of humans to stand tall and stand on the border for more than half a millennium, forever!
