“Harvest season is probably the most memorable season for any child growing up in the rice-growing countryside. Every early May, cycling through the village roads, with rice fields on both sides, feels like walking in the middle of a golden sea. The wind blows, carrying the smell of ripe rice into our noses. At that moment, children like us know that summer has come again.”
That is the sharing of photographer Nguyen Huu Thuong, a student from Quang Tri, owner of a photo series capturing golden rice fields in harvest season.
The beauty of Vietnamese countryside during harvest season through the lens of a student.
The photos were probably not taken through the eyes of a student, but of an innocent, naive boy, who wandered day after day on the dikes of his hometown, inhaling the fragrance of ripe rice.
The vast golden rice field stretches out, as if blending with the green mountain range.
“The rice grains of our village/ Have storms in July/ Have rains in March/ Drops of sweat fall/ On afternoons in June…”. Enclosed in the heavy rice grains are the sweat of the farmers. The golden season is the season they wait for the most, the season to reap the fruits of many months of hard work growing and caring for them.
Golden season, the season when farmers' sweat turns into sweet milk in rice grains.
The golden rice fields, the winding green canals reflecting the clouds and sky. To many people, it is a very ordinary scene, nothing special. But for the children of the Vietnamese countryside, perhaps it is these simple things that evoke unforgettable emotions.
The green canal meanders through the golden rice fields.
The golden season is the most awaited season of the year. Children wait for summer vacation, adults wait for the harvest. After a long year of hard work, the children can now relax and rush out to the village streets to play. What could be better than cycling through the ripe rice fields, inhaling the sweet scent of the rice, enjoying the summer breeze blowing through your hair?
Golden season, the season when children are on summer vacation.
Lotus blooming season, children happily play in the brilliant lotus pond.
“When we are here, it is just a place to live, when we leave, the land suddenly becomes our soul.” (Che Lan Vien).
Hey friend, the rice harvest season is here. If possible, take the opportunity to visit your hometown, visit the golden rice fields, visit the old people, the old place. What is more precious than the place where we were born and raised, the place that nurtured us to become who we are today, the place that has become a part of our flesh and blood?
