(VOVworld) – A brotherhood was formed long ago between ancient villages in Kinh Bac, a region dubbed the cradle of the northern delta. Throughout thousands of years, this cultural feature is still being preserved and promoted.

A farmer with a cart of straw passes by a village gate in Duong Lam on the outskirts of Hanoi

Kinh Bac is home to 3 ancient kingdoms in Bac Giang, Bac Ninh and areas bordering Hanoi. Like many rural areas in the northern delta, a typical traditional village in Kinh Bac has a gate and surrounding bamboo groves. Each village has its own customs and rules. There are stories that never go beyond the village boundary and significant cultural customs that do not exist elsewhere. Local villagers boast a custom of Brotherhood – Chạ in ancient Vietnamese – which is a brotherhood between two villages rather than between two people. Villagers in this relationship share and support each other in daily life. The villages of Phuc Linh and Huong Cau, which is 5 km apart in Hiep Hoa district, Bac Giang province, have been preserving the tradition for generations. Ta Dang Thinh is an elder of Phuc Linh village: “The old people told us that in feudal times, the population here was small and people had to establish closer bonds to ensure production, help each other in times of need and defend natural disasters as well as enemies”.

No one in Phuc Linh or Huong Cau village knows when their brotherhood began. But there are some stories. In the 1980s, when Phuc Linh villagers decided to build a new road, they were amazed one early morning to find that preparations had already been completed, with piles of enough gravels to pave the road as planned. Ta Van Thuy, a Phuc Linh villager, told VOV: “Huong Cau villagers carried gravel during the night to help the Phuc Linh villagers. When the people in Phuc Linh woke up, they didn’t know who had done all this work”.

Without waiting to be asked for help, the Huong Cau villagers helped their brother villagers silently, involving a large number of people to accomplish the task overnight. People in Huong Cau say that whenever something bad happens to them such as a flood or a bad crop, their brother villagers come to help them. Hoang Van Lich, Chairman of Huong Cau village, told us:“We used to remove water from the rice fields with long-handled buckets. They helped us drain off the water from dozens of hectares of rice fields. Some removed water; others used buffaloes to plough and then transplanted the rice seedlings”.

Huong Cau village’s communal house is a beautiful architectural piece which dates back hundreds of years. When local villagers prepared for the restoration, they didn’t realize that the Phuc Linh villagers were planning to help them. All the brick tiles were carried overnight by Phuc Linh people for the restoration of the communal house. Manpower was also mobilized for the tile work. Ngo Van Kien is a Phuc Linh villager:“Hearing about our Huong Cau brothers planning to repair their communal house, we automatically used our vehicles to carry the tiles there. Large families carried more than smaller ones. Everybody young or old was ready to help”.

Harvest time in Duong Lam ancient village

The custom of making brotherhood is reflected not only one village helping another without any calculation, but also in a sympathetic sharing of joys and woes. In Vietnam’s northern villages, brotherhood and neighborhood are often synonymous.