Bui Thi Tuyet Mai is a female poet rich in emotions, with a sensitive, delicate and dreamy heart, but at the same time she is also a modern female ethnic minority intellectual, so she has a multi-dimensional, profound view of life as well as the fate of the people in the mountains; of a better future but also full of thorns and challenges. That is the profound, emotional, realistic view of a Muong intellectual woman. The poet is sad and sorrowful before the hardships, the harsh challenges of nature and the lives of the people in the mountains; and then worries and thinks about the fate of the people in the mountains. Therefore, unlike some female writers (who often poeticize their homeland), Bui Thi Tuyet Mai always sees the hardships and challenges facing people in the mountains: With bare feet / Stepping on cat-ear rocks ( Love story on the mountain ) ; I still see the beggar children/ The starving people right at the root/ And the swarms of whirlwinds/ The mud and fire of war ( The Broken Day ). That is why, when she is far from her homeland, she also misses her homeland deeply with specific images: Oh my Mother, I have many times lain in your arms / Throughout my life, crickets, kites, flowers, and shells, the full moon / Bathed in lullabies, drinking lullabies from the sweet Muong land / And now I say goodbye to my beloved Mother / From now on, my sleep will surely be less peaceful/ I will thirst for your lullabies/ I will miss you many nights/ Mother/ Homeland ( Goodbye, beloved Mother ). Her state of mind has some similarities with the state of mind of poet Nong Thi Ngoc Hoa when she wrote about her difficult homeland: I had a skinny childhood/ My hair was tangled and burnt, fluttering/ My face was dirty, I caught crabs and mussels at noon/ I carried a load of firewood, my shoulders were bleeding ( Finding my childhood again ).
Although she loves and feels sorry for her mountainous homeland with many difficulties and hardships, in her heart, the ethnic people still passionately breathe with their homeland. Because of those difficulties, hardships, and hardships, she urges people to rise up, overcome the difficulties and harsh challenges of nature. She wrote tearful, touching but also proud verses about the strong vitality of nature as well as the people here: The Muong season is also
know how to count the fading ditches/ The wind and the moon know how to count the stumps/ The smoke also dyes people brown like the earth/ The trail knows how to count the familiar and strange steps ( Muong Trong ); Muong Anh/ Muong Tight Waist/ Muong Sobbing along with the lyrics of the song (About Muong).
Reading Bui Thi Tuyet Mai’s poetry, one can always see the shadow and breath of folk culture, of the simple, natural, traditional life of Muong Dong. Therefore, the present and the past always exist side by side in her poetry as a comparison to affirm the awareness of preserving the traditional cultural values of the nation. Her poetry is not only a nostalgia for the past, but also a respect for past memories and a sense of origin.
Therefore, in her poetry, the image of a Muong woman is very passionate and emotional: Warm flowers/ Nestle into the cold, skinny winter arms/ That's why/ I/ When I cry/ When I laugh/ Clouds return to the city/ Shirt/ Scarf/ Far from the mountains/ Smoke from people/ Color/ Dizzy/ Rain ( Drunken Words ). That woman is very mountainous, very ethnic, so when she returns to the city, she still wants to preserve the "color" of the mountains, that very Muong color.
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It can be seen that, although describing nature with many different emotions, the common point in her poems is the pride in the beautiful, romantic land, full of mythical and legendary colors and gratitude for the mountainous nature. For her, the homeland is the nostalgia, the love, the pride in each page of poetry. With a genuine, profound, multi-dimensional view of the mountainous homeland in the nostalgia of ethnic minorities far from home, Bui Thi Tuyet Mai has brought to readers many new emotions and deep feelings about the homeland of ethnic minorities with its unique, inherent features and full of human love.
2.2.2. Mountain people: rustic, sincere but also very romantic.
Throughout the writing process of ethnic minority poets, the main theme is the image of the mountain people. Bui Thi Tuyet Mai is a child of the mountains, born and raised in a stilt house, with fields, hills, steamed rice , and attic houses.
carrying water, roasting pig ..., she is attached to her homeland, loyal to the mountains and forests, her soul always turns to the source. Although she has come to the city, all the images of nature, people and customs of her homeland seem to hold tightly in her heart and cannot be separated. Everything becomes as familiar as breath, as if attached to the poet's soul, from which she raises a soulful voice, very gentle, simple, innocent, natural... about the simple, honest, sincere mountain people, with a pure, innocent lifestyle like the water from the source.
What we can easily recognize is the image of honest, simple, straightforward, rustic boys and girls, with the healthy beauty of the mountain people in their daily lives: The bronze shoulder like our Father / The rustling of newly dried grass / Still shimmering with the salty taste of the fields / The color of peaceful wind and dew ( About the shoulder ). They are also people who live innocently, love innocently, even though they have to overcome many difficulties and hardships: We have loved each other since then / Want to visit each other across rivers and mountains / Want to see each other's faces across the distance of yin and yang / Borrow the words of the wind to confide in each other / Borrow the words of the clouds to reflect each other's shadows clearly / Borrow the words of love to forget the pain of the past ( Love words of the palm tree ).
Writing about the image of her homeland, Bui Thi Tuyet Mai always pays attention to bringing into her writings the personality and soul of her community and people. It is the harmony, simplicity, and affection in daily life; it is the image of people with a healthy, strong, and fertile beauty - like a pride in the healthy, strong beauty of the children of the mountains. Like other ethnic minority poets such as Y Phuong, Lo Ngan Sun,
Mai Lieu, Nong Thi Ngoc Hoa... Bui Thi Tuyet Mai often writes about mountain women; it is a great source of inspiration and occupies much of her emotions, passion and intelligence in her works. If the Tay woman appears with a graceful beauty in form, skillful, hard-working, talented in labor, passionate and intense in love; living in harmony with nature and carrying within her a pure, fresh, gentle, simple beauty
The image of women in Bui Thi Tuyet Mai's poetry appears with a strong, muscular beauty but no less graceful and fresh, that beauty is compared to the typical flowers of the Northwest such as Peach blossom, Apricot blossom, Plum blossom: "Women on the mountain/ Hands holding me/ Walking on the feet of their husbands/ Sleeping on their children's sleep/ Women on the mountain/ Small waist/ Big calves/ Big hands/ Needles and threads lighting up the fire/ Women on the mountain/ Tall/ Round/ Fluffy/ Making flowers bloom white on the mountain all year round " (Beauty on the mountain).
In folk literature, the image of the eyes is an aesthetic signal, a symbol of the longing of couples in love: Who do the eyes miss/ Who do the eyes sleep peacefully ( Ca dao ); and in modern literature, Xuan Quynh - the queen of love - also borrowed the image of the eyes to express the longing of women: Who do the eyes miss/ Who do the eyes sleep peacefully. Thus , poets from the past to the present when describing the beauty of women in general and ethnic minority women in particular often pay attention to the image of the eyes. Because the eyes are the windows to the soul. We can see: Eyes wet like hot fat in a pan (Lo Ngan Sun- Giay), Seeing a girl with slim, blue eyes (Chu Thuy Lien- Ha Nhi), and Bui Thi Tuyet Mai is no exception: Your eyes are like a fence of fire ants ( Fire Ants ) . According to our survey, in 35 articles about highland people of hers, 27 articles directly describe women. Of those 27 articles, 27 mention the image of eyes. Eyes can express emotions without having to express much. It can be said that the image of eyes in her poems is like an aesthetic signal, a symbol of the natural beauty of highland women - contributing to the success of this Muong poet.
Writing about mountain women , Bui Thi Tuyet Mai not only describes their physical beauty, strong, healthy, and fiery appearance, but also deeply depicts their sweet and profound inner beauty: The women build nests / With all the colors of purple, yellow, green, and red / The smell of lipstick / The smell of mud / Bitter, spicy , salty, and sweet / Calling the spring wind to caress the flower season ( The Women ). They are hard-working, capable, and skillful women - a beauty of ethnic minority women. The poet was very subtle when recognizing the diligence, skill, and diligence of the girls in building houses like bees. Women take care of the whole family, bring joy, happiness, laughter, and peace to the house. Sometimes they become the support and pride of their husbands when they have capable and capable wives: Women are like bees / Lulling their children to sleep / Fondling their husbands / Wearing a red blouse and holding a gourd of sweet wine ( Women ).
In addition, the beauty of Muong women in particular, and ethnic minority women in general, is also expressed in community cultural activities. In folk games, they captivate viewers: Boys and girls / Flocking / Pon Bong entering the festival / Making fire Singing lullabies / Vi dum / Cau Thuong (inviting you) ; Coming to the festival / Faces are dazzling / Lips are dazzling / Horse wind clangs the silver boots / Capturing the souls of the people to come and play ( Going to the festival ).
In the rhythmic, passionate music, in the intoxicating wine, the dances and songs: The narrow-waisted songs ( Muong songs ) of the girls make someone's heart flutter and yearn to live forever in that festival night.
Not only describing the beauty of the mountain people with their natural, sincere and lovable appearance, Bui Thi Tuyet Mai also pays great attention to describing the inner world with different levels of emotions of a mountain woman. And with her profound understanding, a sensitive heart and the way of vividly expressing the colorful emotional nuances of the inner world of the mountain people to weave beautiful and emotional verses. She herself is a Muong woman - Bui Thi Tuyet Mai has a very unique way of feeling and expressing ability and
unique of ethnic minorities when writing about love. For Bui Thi Tuyet Mai - love is always expressed in many different emotional levels such as: nostalgia, deep longing, passionate waiting... and there is something instinctive, very strong, intense, surging, burning from within: Like drinking a jar of wine cut by a knife/ a jar of wine with a ghost of fire / Like eating a piece of betel with a piece of scraped bamboo/ a piece of betel with a ghost of smoke/ Like being hit by a poisoned arrow/ a water ghost arrow/ Like being caught in a tornado/ Like the moon being eaten by a bear (Remembering).
Writing about the love of Muong boys and girls, Bui Thi Tuyet Mai always brings readers many surprises and interesting things about the natural, sincere, rustic, but also fiery way of speaking of couples in love. They come together with innocent, sincere, intense feelings and especially that is the rare loyalty in love. When in love, they love with all their heart, passionate, burning without beating around the bush, hiding, without embellishment, flowers, they frankly express their feelings in a sincere, innocent, intense way: I want to be close to you/ like when hungry, I want to be close to rice/ so I walk through many large fields/ Want to be close to you like a dry fish thirsty for water/ so I take the trouble to find the big ocean/ Want to express my feelings to you, so I speak up/ I love you straight (I love you straight)
The people of the highlands are as real as their hearts. Sincere, straightforward, not shy, not tactful... They also do not accept lies, half-heartedness in love. That is their personality and also a characteristic that makes up the nature of the highlanders that we can easily recognize.
That love is passionate, hot but also sometimes discreet, subtle, gentle. The Muong girls do not directly express their desire for a couple, but through their sincere way of speaking, readers can feel a passionate, intense, discreet, affectionate love in them: Invite you to come back to the Muong Association/ From afar to be close/ To love/ To remember/ Sharing a jar of fragrant wine/ Sharing a pot of new rice/ With boys and girls to the Xec-pua festival ( Invite you ).
Thus, when writing about the people and life of the mountain people, Bui Thi Tuyet Mai always reserved for them the most affectionate and respectful feelings and especially sympathy and sharing with the difficult and hard life of the mountain people. Each person has different personality traits and souls, but in general, they all have similarities in being genuine, innocent, affectionate and imbued with the character of the mountain people. Therefore, when reading her poems, readers can feel quite clearly the appearance and soul of the mountain people, especially this lovely woman.
2.3. Inspiration to write about Muong cultural identity with love and pride
2.3.1. Muong cultural identity through customs and practices
Bui Thi Tuyet Mai is not only proud of the people and landscape of her homeland with its majestic and beautiful mountains, but she is also very proud because it is the land of people and ethnic groups with rich customs and traditions, full of humanity. Like other ethnic poets, Bui Thi Tuyet Mai's poetry always radiates pride in her nation - a nation with a long-standing civilization and rich identity. That pride is expressed through her feelings and thoughts when she writes lovingly and respectfully about the customs and traditions, the beautiful traditions of her nation in her works.
Bui Thi Tuyet Mai is a true daughter of the Muong people. She has been immersed in the traditional cultural life of the nation, so the cultural essence has permeated into the way of life, the thoughts of the people, into her soul and heart, creating differences in her way of feeling and thinking. Perhaps that is why from the customs and practices of holidays, New Year's, festivals to the way of behaving, communicating in daily life to the unique culinary art of the mountain people... have all become endless inspiration in her compositions and it has become a source of emotions that are always full in her: Eat fresh / Drink real ( Wine words ); Eat fresh / Play real ( Muong people ) ... The nature of the Muong people is "eat fresh, play real". Muong people, they live simply.
simple, sincere, loyal, with a beginning and an end. In Bui Thi Tuyet Mai's poems, readers can easily imagine the simple, rustic, and sincere life of the people here. Talking about the culinary characteristics as well as the production labor of the Muong people, we only need to summarize a very typical sentence: " Steamed rice, stilt houses, water carried, roasted pigs, days go by, months come " ( The Baby Tooth Man ). Domestic water is stored in large bamboo tubes, more than a meter long, carried on the shoulder from the wharf to the house for gradual use. Therefore, with an economy that is mainly agricultural, with the profession of growing wet rice, steamed sticky rice, steamed non-sticky rice (fresh rice) is an indispensable culinary dish. On holidays, Tet, and festivals, the Muong people often slaughter pigs to celebrate. When slaughtering pigs, they do not pour boiling water to remove the hair, but must roast straw or roofing sheets with soot, so as to preserve the natural flavor of the meat without making it bland and the pig's skin has a yellow color like honey . Even in terms of accommodation, the Muong people are accustomed to living on stilt houses. Muong houses are often built on hills, with their backs against the mountain, all the columns and rafters are not mortised but are just placed tightly on top of each other. Thus, stilt houses are a unique expression of the material culture of the Muong people through many generations... The design also has its own unique features that enrich more than one aspect of the stilt house culture of the ethnic groups in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.
As we know, every year, the Muong people have many festivals of their own community. If the Dao people have the fire dancing festival, the Thai people have the Han Khuong and Xip Xi festivals, the Tay people have the Long Tong festival, then the Muong people have the Dam Duong festival. This can be considered a beautiful feature in the cultural life of the Muong people, it brings together the most cultural nuances of the Muong people. Dam Duong is a form of pounding rice, but it is pounding rice in a festival and only women perform, it has artistic and organizational value. Dam Duong is a custom that has long-standing origins in the Muong ethnic minority areas. The Muong people often pound rice with a wooden mortar in the shape of a dugout canoe, two to three spans long, the pestle is as long as a carrying pole, the middle is tapered to fit the hand. Dam Duong is often held by the Muong people on the occasion of Tet, seasonal festivals, weddings and house building.