Vietnamese Villages Almost all Vietnamese people have recollections of villages. Those memories, both clear and vague, give the people a life-long feeling of attachment to their native land, and this creates a unique feature in the Vietnamese psychology. Through the millennia of the history, the villages have existed as an administrative entity, a firm factor in the structure of the Vietnamese society.

I still remember the feeling of being surrounded by my village's bamboo hedge. The green of the plants provides shade for villagers against the scorching sun during summer days. On the village's lanes, winds blow bamboo leaves down as villagers walk by. After school, children rush out to play chucks and tipcats, or surround the old man who makes statues from coloured sticky rice paste, listening to his fairytales while watching as lively pigs, dogs and cats taking shape in his hands.

Those endless times of play in such a peaceful space often leave deep imprints on the childhood. The village lanes are lying there from generation to generation. Neither too large nor too small, they are passable to cattle-drawn carts. Many villagers prefer to make short cuts through others' estate, bypassing the lanes without having to mind whether they have annoyed their neighbours. Many villages have an age-old tradition that each newlywed couple has to contribute bricks, enough to build 1m² of a lane, to their village.

As a result brick lanes have stretched to every house. The life in rural areas is sincere and friendly with villagers being ready to share sorrows and happiness, upholding the principle of "a friend in need..." There are innumerable memorable days for each village. During those days, villagers join hands to perform the activities, and this has established common habits and practices, making villagers bear in the minds the villages' regulations and rules, a violation of which would create a bad reputation to the offender.

A shout would be enough to wake the whole village up in case of theft or robbery. Villages are also associated to the system of ponds and water wells needed for gardens and daily activities. Gardens, private as they are, but also common in many points, often attract children. Inside the garden, poultry search for their food under the crown of banana, guava, orange, and longan trees and this creates a mixture of perennial trees and vegetables, supplying everything needed to the daily meals of the villagers.

In Vietnamese folklore, the most beautiful songs and poems are about the villages. The banyan trees, the water wells, the yards of communal houses are places of rendezvous for young couples to date, something deep in the heart of the Vietnamese living in the wet rice civilization. Lanes covered with yellow straw, villages' gates like eyes seeing off those who venture out and like embracing arms welcoming back those who return have touched the heart of innumerable Vietnamese all over the world.

A Hanoi artist, so deeply in love with the images of the countryside, has taken photo of thousands of villages' gates to make an attractive collection. A very interesting point to visitors to Hanoi is that the capital also houses villages. The flower-cultivating villages of Nghi Tam and Nhat Tan have gone down in history and been known to many. Ha Hoi Hamlet, located in the heart of the city, provides a peaceful space with small lanes. Visitors can try the taste of a rural meal in a restaurant at No. 4 Ha Hoi Street, which reminds them of the images and food of the hospitable Vietnamese villages.

The graphic beauty of the small lanes in Ha Hoi Hamlet, especially in autumn, makes visitors turn their mind to their villages. Many studies have been made on the villages, but they often come to a common denominator, the identity of the Vietnamese villages is based on the wet rice civilization. Depending on the altitude of the fields, various cultivating practices are formed. Villagers would focus on the cultivation of rice fields near mountains, but they would turn themselves into fishermen if they live near rivers, or gardeners on level grounds. The practices and activities of the villages have formed part of the villagers' characteristics. The village civilization is the deepest in the Vietnamese culture. It has helped the Vietnamese sustain their cultural identity and soul throughout the innumerable challenges and upheavals of the country’s history.

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