A sacred cauldron tied to the history of Muong Chai

At the headquarters of Chau Tien Commune People’s Committee in Nghe An Province, the new administrative unit after merging Chau Thuan Commune with 3 other communes of the former Quy Chau District, a special red bronze relic is being kept and preserved. It is a cauldron with a mouth circumference of 2.4 meters and a height of 45 centimeters.

To local people, this is not just a simple bronze artifact, but a sacred “treasure” tied to the history of the former Muong Chai land, or the old Chau Thuan Commune.

Legend has it that Muong Chai in ancient times was led by a female chief named Chai. She was credited with organizing production and arbitrating community disputes.

As she grew old and frail, bandits arose to harass the region. To protect the village, Chai sent emissaries to invite Tao Noong, a man highly skilled in martial arts from the Chau Binh area, to help suppress the chaos.

Initially, Tao Noong earned the profound respect of the villagers for his merits in defending the land. However, after consolidating power in his hands, he turned tyrannical and autocratic, establishing numerous harsh laws that caused widespread public resentment, though no one dared to openly oppose him.

To maintain peace in the village, Chai continued to send envoys to invite Cam Ba Hieu (also called as Tao Noi) to assist. As a figure endowed with strategic brilliance who was deeply loved by the people, Tao Noi's arrival was viewed as a historical turning point for Muong Chai.

Chai ordered a heaven-worshipping ceremony to welcome Tao Noi, taking the opportunity to organize a brotherhood alliance ceremony between Tao Noong and Tao Noi. While the ritual and alliance were underway, Tao Noong was overthrown by Tao Noi and the village youths acting in unison. Under Tao Noi's leadership, peace returned to the Muong land.

It is said that this bronze cauldron was brought along by Tao Noi when he arrived in Muong Chai. The cauldron was used to cook an entire buffalo during that historic heaven-worshipping ceremony. Later, Tao Noi entrusted the cauldron to the shaman (thay mo) for preservation, and it was exclusively used during the villagers' annual sacrificial rituals.

The century-old "treasure" stolen multiple times

Enduring hundreds of years of ups and downs, this antique cauldron also confronted numerous incidents, having been stolen by thieves on multiple occasions. 

Vi Ngoc Duyen, the former Chair of the old Chau Thuan Commune, shared a bizarre detail: after every theft, the cauldron was always brought back.

According to him, over 30 years ago, while temporarily stored under the shelter of the Chau Thuan Commune Kindergarten, the cauldron suddenly vanished.

While residents were searching everywhere, a few weeks later, a man residing in the old Dien Chau District, over 100 kilometers away from Chau Thuan Commune, unexpectedly brought the cauldron back to the site and confessed to his actions.

The man admitted he had stolen the cauldron and taken it home with the intention of selling it to antique collectors for a profit. However, after bringing the artifact home for storage, his family frequently heard strange noises at night.

Terrified and anxious, the man decided to return it. Recognizing that the violator expressed sincere remorse, the local government at the time refrained from criminal prosecution and decided to move the cauldron to the Commune People's Committee headquarters for safekeeping.

In 2000, the bronze cauldron once again became a target for thieves. A stranger broke into the Chau Thuan Commune People's Committee headquarters at midnight, covertly dragged the cauldron outside, strapped it to the back of a motorcycle, and drove off, heading straight toward a scrap collection facility for liquidation.

A week later, the owner of a scrap collection shop in the old Quy Chau District unexpectedly drove the bronze cauldron back to hand it over to the commune government. There, the shop owner explained that they had purchased the cauldron from a strange man, completely unaware that it was a sacred local antique.

After storing it in the warehouse for a few days, through reminders from acquaintances that this bronze cauldron was under commune management, the shop owner worried about encountering legal trouble and proactively brought it back.

Sharing the preservation strategy for the "treasure," Vi Van Lam, Deputy Chief of Office of the Chau Tien Commune People's Committee, stated that the specialized department of the commune is planning to compile a dossier requesting heritage recognition for the bronze cauldron.

Tran Tuyen