Village gates – a unique cultural feature of Hanoi Capital
Hanoi capital is rising every day with the skyscrapers, the hustle, and bustle of modern life. Despite the rapid development, Hanoi still retains its unique traditional culture, typically, the village gates.
Along with the banyan tree, the wharf, the communal yard, the village gate becomes a country soul. From ancient times, behind the gate is a miniature society where there are relatives, neighbors, festivals, and customs and village regulations. Therefore, the village gate has been a part of the culture of Hanoi as well as Vietnamese people.
Green Gate at the beginning of the lane 514, Thuy Khue st. In the past, the first function of each village gate was to prevent the intrusion of bandits, which was the origin of the name Canh gate. Because “Canh” and “Xanh” use the same sound, now Canh Gate is called as “Xanh Gate” (Green gate) – the guard gate of the village.
Despite the ups and downs of time, the ancient beauty of the gates of villages and rural communes in the Northern Delta can not be covered by the hustle and bustle modern life.
An Tho village gate at 528 Thuy Khue, a hundred-year-old gate, was built in 1127, under the reign of King Ly Nhan Tong
These old and mossy gates have been well preserved and embellished. Plus, each village of Hanoi used to be associated with a craft. The gates often displayed sophisticated architecture and were frequently decorated with parallel sentences. Some of them might be given by the king; others might be written by the villagers to respect the traditional values, the beauty of the village or the dream of a good thing. The arch shape gate with a curved roof, 2 columns on the sides are embossed Chinese or Nom characters, are built of bricks. Over time, although the words have been abraded by rain and wind, they still live on from generation to generation …
Dong Xa village gate at 444 Thuy Khue, with the words “An Dong chính lộ” (The main road of Dong Xa village), is quite intact.
Each village is associated with a story or a handicraft such as the “Giò Chem(steamed pork roll made in Chem village, nem Vẽ (spring roll made in Ve village” from Dong Ngac; Dó paper original from Thuy Khe village; black incense originating from Trung Kinh village; and the custom of adopting children from Dai Tu village. It is said that on the curved roof of the village there are four words “Dai Tu nghia dan” given by King Tu Duc to praise the humanity custom of villagers. Now a couplet is embossed on two columns on the sides of the gate to remember the day President Ho Chi Minh visited Dai Tu (October 12, 1958),: ” With 4 embossed words, Ancient righteousness shines more bright / Follow Uncle Ho’s sentiments, Dai Tu rises to the sky”.
Com Vong village gate – a three-entrance gate is newly rebuilt, the appearance is a noticeable impression of a famous village with young green rice.
Moreover, Me Tri village was originally named Anh Son. Thanks to growing the delicious white rice, the king renamed the village to “Me Tri”. “Me” means rice, “Tri” means a big pond. Through the ups and downs of the capital’s history, the gate of Me Tri village has disappeared. However, living in the urbanization era, the villagers desire to rebuild the gate and record the history of their village.
Phu My communal house gate is located on Le Duc Tho street, Nam Tu Liem district. The village gate has been remodeled and embellished. This is a structure to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi.
Phu Do village gate is located on Le Quang Dao street, Phu Do Ward, Nam Tu Liem district. Although the gate was not built with ancient architectural style, it maintains the village space, highlights the existence of Phu Do vermicelli
Thanh Cong village gate, an ancient gate, lies in the atmosphere of the bustling city.
The gate of Dai Tu village is characterized by the architectural style of the northern delta village gate. It is well preserved by the resident in Dai Kim Ward, Hoang Mai district.
Tuong Mai village gate lies on Truong Dinh Street
The gate of Van Phuc village lies in Ba Dinh district, at the beginning of the lane 290, Kim Ma street.
We are proud of a peaceful and strongly growing Hanoi with green streets, high buildings and modern traffic networks. However, besides the modernization and urbanization, the village gates remain. They keep and represent the history, the handicraft, the culture and the tradition in each Hanoian’s soul.
By Tuấn Trần – Picture: Đặng Loan