Coconuts in Horticultural culture

According to the writer Son Nam, also a Vietnamese culturist, the west of Southern of Vietnam is the birthplace of the "horticultural culture". Probably, here has been the homeland of Vietnamese horticulture and far from more prosperous urbanized places so called horticultural region.

A garden hereby mentioned is an orchard, and no where in the country with orchards as much as the South. In the species of fruit trees in the South, perhaps the one that supplies fruit for many years and has tight the relationship to the people of this land probably is coconuts. 

It's hard to explain whether coconuts or people came first in this land. But what the coconuts marked on the culture of the people here have demonstrated that coconut tree's presence were a long time ago, and therefore, it has very special role in the native culture.

People of the Southern for generations, would live in harmony with nature. At the very land of rivers and canals mixing of freshwater, brackish water, and seawater, the people here had known how to plant coconut trees to prevent erosion and salinity to protect rice, crops or other fruits. Coconut trees tied to land reclaiming footsteps and continuously attached to every countryside's practice.

The coconut bridge is the beloved image of the South. In the land of great deal of rivers and canals carrying heavy silt, coconut tree trunks have been a "hyphen" between the rural neighbor villages. Coconut trees supply soft healthy drink, and coconut tree trunks support footsteps of deeper affection and gratitude. 

In addition, dried coconut leaves have been used to fire that almost households in the Mekong Delta have done. Besides, people would choose large old coconut leaves with stong stems to bundle into sweeping brooms that was called "coconut brooms". This brush together with straw brooms is probably the oldest type of brooms of the southern land.

Coconut torches were also beauty of humanistic .culture of the people behaving towards one another at the beginning of the reclaiming of the land and when missing the way late at night. In earlier days, coconut leaves were the decorative material for weddings in Southern countryside villages.

In Tet holidays, coconut is on display in the Five- fruit tray consisting of "custard-apple, coconut, papaya, mango, fig". Coconut is one of the five components of dreaming of human flourishing. In addition, in the three-day festival, almost household make coconut jam. Coconut jam with the green, white, red, gold colors looks very nice, making the atmosphere more bustling, the stories sweeter, hopes raised highly. Until today, coconut jam still retains that position. 

And in most of the cakes that are offered to ancestors in death's anniversary, weddings, coconut would be present, they are glutinous rice cake, yellow-colored wedding pastry, green rice flake cake, coconut sticky rice.... 

And it would be a shortcoming if talking about the Southern without Vietnamese two-chord fiddle that were made of dried coconut shells. More evidences of a coconut tree to show its rooting deeply in the such Southern people's emotion. Speaking to the South, we should mention the "Cai luong". Speaking of "Cai luong", we should remind of Vietnamese two-chord fiddle. And reminding of the Vietnamese two-chord fiddle would remind us of coconut trees. As aresult, horticultural culture and coconuts have related much.

(Nguyen Ba Tuan general) 

(Collected photo)