 |
| Dr. Doan Trung Huu by his pot of banh tet on the last days of the year |
The house facing the Huong river at 324 Chi Lang Street, Gia Hoi Ward, Phu Xuan District, Hue City, which we often call the “Fig Clubhouse”, is the ancestral house of Dr. Doan Trung Huu, an expert on Sino-Vietnamese Demotic characters and feng shui. We name it so because of the old fig tree which survives through years in front of the house. With his hospitality and his love for the Huong river and the Hue life and culture, Huu has created a poetic cultural space for guests and visitors.
Continuing Tet memories
One of the traditional cultural activities that takes place on a regular basis every year at the "Fig Clubhouse” is gathering by the pot of banh tet on the last days of the year.
Huu's native village is Chuon (or An Truyen village, Phu An Commune, Phu Vang District), well known for specialty banh chung and banh tet because fragrant glutinous rice and good pork are available there. During the Nguyen’s era, the Chuon village often presented glutinous rice and wine to the King. Though their glutinous rice now is hybrid, it is still delicious with its distinct flavor. In preparation for his banh tet cooked at his house in the city, he went back to his native village to buy glutinous rice and pork.
Sitting by the pot of banh tet, we told stories about our days when we followed our moms picking dong leaves and banana leaves, finding bamboos on the mountain and washing glutinous rice at the river in preparation for making banh tet. A flowery mat was placed on the front porch on which were the basket of clean glutinous rice, the pot of boiled green bean fragrant with shallots, and well-sliced strips of pork belly, etc. The children were shown by their parents how to make banh tet which were round and how to tie them with bamboo strips with notches arranged regularly and beautifully.
Hue Tet in the countryside in the 1980s-1990s of the last century was still the excitement for many children. After being shown how to make banh tet, each of us was allowed to make a bar of banh tet of our own. After finishing our “masterpieces”, we carried it on the shoulders to show it off to other people in the village.
Gathering on the mat were also life stories, simple but profound, told by grandparents and parents to their children and grandchildren. The stories contained the life philosophy of the banh tet as round as the heaven and banh chung as square as the earth. The stories reminded us that we were Vietnamese, who were well known for loving each other, being good at cooperation, respecting our parents, and worshipping our ancestors. Now that our older generations have passed away, sitting by the fire cooking banh tet, we think about our grandparents and parents.
Keeping the Vietnamese identity
Dr. Doan Trung Huu is currently in business of Phước Huệ wooden handicrafts in Hue. Growing up in the academic cradle of Buddhism in Hue and graduating from the Department of Literature, Hue University of Education, he spent almost 10 years studying and translating Sino-Vietnamese Demotic characters. Though he did not worked as a teacher, he decided to continue with his studies. He took the master’s program on Sino-Vietnamese Demotic characters at Hanoi University of Social Sciences and Humanities. In 2015, he successfully defended his doctoral thesis in Sino-Vietnamese Demotic characters at the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences.
From 2000 to 2010, he joined the project of translating Buddhist scriptures led by Most Venerable Thich Tinh Hanh in Ho Chi Minh City. In the meantime, he explored and studied feng shui and Yijing, and began to collect driftwood artworks and wooden paintings, and making wooden artworks. He applies his knowledge of feng shui in his craft of traditional wooden fine arts.
After returning to his parents' ancient house by the Huong river, Huu turns it into a traditional carpentry workshop and also a venue for people to gather to sing as well as to discuss Hue cultural values. “So far worshipping objects and household objects have obeyed conventional principles and have been affected by Chinese culture from generation to generation. For example, decorative patterns, though Vietnamized, still cannot go too far from the four sacred animals: dragon, unicorn, turtle, phoenix or the four precious plants: apricot, orchid, chrysanthemum, bamboo,” said Huu.
In Hue artisans skilled in carpentry, carving, and mosaic-making are well aware of keeping their crafts. But they are loyal to popular patterns. Few artisans have opportunities to change and to be creative. Because of this, Huu has created cabinets and altars decorated with windows and boxes in Buddhist and traditional motifs in Ly’s, Tran’s and Nguyen’s eras. He also produces sculptures, worshipping thrones, incense burners, candle holders, etc., suitable for the Vietnamese culture and the belief of each family.
With his profound knowledge of feng shui, culture and Buddhism, for many years now, Huu has advised many pagodas, spiritual establishments and private houses throughout the country to create Vietnamese-styled worshipping spaces. And the pot of banh tet cooked by the Huong river on the last days of the year is also his way to conserve the cultural beauty of Tet in Hue that continues forever.