In the highlands of Trà Leng, cinnamon trees have been an integral part of the local people's lives for generations. For the Ca Dong and M'Nông communities, cinnamon is not just a crop to sell for money, but also a hope that nurtures their children and builds their homes amidst the vast forest. Green cinnamon hills stretch across the mountainsides, fragrant in the early morning mist, embracing the arduous lives of generations of highlanders.
Every harvest season, laughter echoes through the mountains and forests. Large cinnamon logs are carefully felled and debarked by the locals. The pungent scent of cinnamon wafts with the wind into every home, every hearth, becoming the familiar aroma of the Trà Leng mountains. Each layer of bark peeled off not only carries the value of the forest but also countless hardships and hopes of the Trà Leng people. Amidst the cloud-covered great forest, the cinnamon tree has become a source of life, a source of pride, and a bond connecting generations of locals with their homeland.
The Loss of Trà Leng People - When Natural Disasters Swept Away Hope in the Great Forest
However, natural disasters in Central Vietnam have never been merciful to people. That year, heavy rains lasted for many days. The Trà Leng mountains and forests were submerged in the roar of rocks and floods. Red, swirling waters rushed down from the great forest, sweeping away trees, houses, and even the cinnamon trees that the locals had just harvested. People stood silently watching their assets, sweat, and hopes being carried away by the raging waters, their hearts aching as if a part of their own flesh and blood had been torn away.
Those cinnamon wood logs drifted downstream with the current. They passed over rapids, through flooded fields, and then washed ashore at Kim Bong Woodworking Village, a village famous for hundreds of years for its traditional woodworking craft. After the flood, the people of Kim Bong went to the riverbank and saw the logs lying silently on the muddy shore. What stunned them was not just the value of the cinnamon wood, but the special fragrance that still lingered on every grain of wood—the scent of the mountains and forests, of the highlanders' sweat, and also the pain after the natural disaster.
The Kim Bong woodworkers did not consider them ownerless gifts left by the flood. They collected the cinnamon logs and tried to contact the highland communities. Some traveled long distances to Trà Leng to inquire which families had lost wood after the devastating flood. Amidst the shadow of natural disaster over Central Vietnam, human kindness silently connected the mountains with the lowlands through the most sincere sharing.
Trà Leng Cinnamon - A Journey of Rebirth from the Great Forest
Then, from the cinnamon logs that seemed to have been swept away in loss, a new journey began. Under the skillful hands of the artisans of Kim Bong Woodworking Village, the cinnamon wood pieces were crafted into wooden statues, animal figures, tables, and chairs, imbued with the soul of Quảng region. The scent of cinnamon remained intact in every grain of wood, as if carrying the breath of the Trà Leng great forest to the heritage land.
Cat family statue set. (Photo: Archival)
These cinnamon wood logs are no longer just materials for a craft, but become living memories of the human kindness in Central Vietnam, where people always know how to hold hands and overcome storms. From Trà Leng to Kim Bong Woodworking Village, the river not only carried cinnamon wood but also the heartfelt affection of the Central Vietnamese people, a simple but enduring emotion, just like the wood grains that have endured many rainy seasons and floods.
