The magic rock in La Pan Tan. Photo: Thai Sinh. I was told by many people about the sacredness of the magic rock located in La Pan Tan commune, where there are beautiful terraced fields, which in 2020 was ranked as a special national scenic spot by the Prime Minister, in 2020. Especially the Raspberry Hill makes many people fascinated by the wonderful creativity of the people here. I have been wandering around the land of Mu Cang Chai (Yen Bai) for many days, heard many stories about the magic rock but did not know where it is located, until today, the Secretary of the Youth Union of La Pan Tan commune was named: Mr. Lu A Tu led him up to see and tell the stories that his own family had come to beg for with many inexplicable mysteries. It turned out that the magic rock was located next to the road from the headquarters of the People’s Committee of La Pan Tan commune to the Mam Xoi hill. From the concrete road to the place where the god resides, it is only about 50m, passing several terraced fields and a small stream. Miraculously, around the rock are terraced fields, absolutely no other rocks, as if this rock was lifted by some magical hand from another place to put it neatly here. The rock is vertical, almost as high as a two-story house leaning against the strip of land like a dragon’s body, and the rock is the dragon’s head slithering from the top of Ta Xa mountain down to the stream to drink water. People come to give thanks to the god rock. Photo: Lu A Tu. An old story has it that, in the rainy season of that year, the rain was so heavy that it lasted for a whole month, it rained continuously and persistently, causing the soil to loosen, and thunder and lightning were so intense that no one dared to step foot out of the house. On one night, there was a huge thunderclap that shook the whole mountain and forest, the sleeping children cried and cried, the old people crouched as if the mountain had collapsed, the sky was as black as kitchen ash suddenly lit up, looking up at the top of Ta Xa mountain. saw a flash of light along with the sound of thunder, and the thunder lasted for half a chicken without stopping. Early the next day, people looked up at the top of the mountain and saw a huge gap, then last night lightning struck the mountain top and split the rock, half drifted down to Pu Nhua which was the wife’s island, half drifted down the Hang. When Sung met the mountain, he stopped by the stream, which is the husband island. The Mong people call it Na Chi Khua Pao De. That is, the parent rock or the magic rock. Lu A Tu sat down on a stone by the stream and told me, his daughter’s name is Lu Thi Tuyet Nga, born in 2016, when she was over a year old, the stunted person couldn’t eat or sleep and cried all day, walking unsteadily with shaky steps… I don’t know what the disease is, no matter how much medicine I take, I can’t get rid of it, and even inviting a priest to worship doesn’t do anything. The new couple discussed taking the baby to the rock to ask for a name, like asking for a god’s adoption. As a union cadre, Tu didn’t really believe in such things, but his parents urged him so he and his wife took their child to carry a thread to make their ass. Three days before taking their daughter to ask for the health of the magic stone, the couple ate, drank, slept very pure, bathed the child with fragrant leaves, they chose a beautiful time to take their daughter to the place where the divine rock resides, place thread on the rock, the couple and the child knelt down to pray: My name is Lu A Tu from Ta Chi Lu village, today with my wife and my wife brought our daughter, Lu Thi Tuyet Nga, to ask Na Chi Khua Pao De to accept it. My daughter is adopted. God of stone, please give my child good health, grow up fast, walk as steady as a stone… The vows of the couple Tu are very long with sincere hearts and praying to the stone god to protect their daughter. After making offerings, they tie a thread to their daughter’s wrist and call her Goat. Goat, Hmong means stone. Since that day, Lu Thi Tuyet Nga is the adopted child of the stone god Na Chi Khua Pao De. Unexpectedly, after that day of worship, the girl ate well, slept well, her steps were steady, no longer shaking and falling like before. To repay the favor to the god rock, from the 2nd to the 5th day of the lunar new year, Lu A Tu and his wife choose a day to bring a chicken or a piece of pork to the foot of the rock to give thanks. The people knelt at the foot of the god rock. Photo: Lu A Tu. Vang A Sao, an officer of the Mu Cang Chai Protection Forest Management Board, from Pung Luong commune, said: Any family who comes to ask for a stone has the god of health, luck, rice and cattle… they have to pay the ceremony for three years. The stone god ceremony is simple, just a chicken, or a piece of meat. That piece of meat must be kept from the family’s Tet slaughtered pig, not meat bought at the market. Any family that can do business should bring a pig about 15-20kg to give thanks… The old people come to the ceremony to stick talismans on the stone for good luck. Photo: Lu A Tu. According to Lu A Tu, from the 2nd to the 5th day of the Lunar New Year, hundreds of people from all over Mu Cang Chai district come here to celebrate, some 200 people a day. They built a kitchen along the stream bank around a rock several tens of meters long, they slaughtered chickens and pigs to make offerings around the rock to worship. After the ceremony was over, they ate and drank at the foot of the rock… Looking at the foot of the rock, I saw that there were many bowls and rice bowls left behind and a few handfuls of unlit incense, Lu A Tu pointed to a small altar attached to the stone niche and said: People worship here, people worship on the ground, You can worship anywhere around this god rock… The sacrifices of the deceased shamans were brought by the family members and left on the rock. Photo: Thai Sinh. Looking up at the side of the rock, there are wooden slats like altars or stairs that have been left on it for a long time. I asked why there were items placed on it, Tu explained that: It was the altar or the sacrifices of the shamans, after the shamans died, the family carried those things on their backs. the stone, as if returning it to the magic stone, or having the magic stone bring it to the dead in the afterlife, or the things of the god stone, just return the god stone… The dress of the person who came to the ceremony left behind. Photo: Thai Sinh. I looked down at the stream and saw many new dresses and shirts as if someone had brought them up and left them here. Tu explained that many sick people want to be healthy, they wear two shirts or skirts each, one new and one old, and place at the foot of the rock to pray. After praying, they wear a new dress or shirt, and the old dress and shirt are left behind. The dress and shirt worn carry the power of the magic stone, that person will be healthy and less sick. The mountain wind blew those skirts and dresses down the stream that I saw. Tu bent down and lifted a dress from the stream to show me, the dress sent back to the magic rock with the belief that it would give them health. On the way back, Lu A Tu continued: My father was told by the elders that that year, a couple brought a son about 6-7 years old, who was sick and crippled, his studies were not going anywhere, so he came to ask for help. The stone god of health and wisdom. They worshiped at the foot of the rock, when they bowed their heads to the rock, the boy saw an old man with white beard and white hair appear from the rock to help them up. Suddenly, the old man was nowhere to be seen, and when he returned home, he told his parents. After that day he was healthy and studied very well, was appointed as an official… Another miracle is that the stream at the foot of the magic rock never dries up, March is in the middle of the dry season, all over the mountains and forests of Mu Cang Chai are dry, many streams are dry at the bottom, especially the stream at the foot of the rock. Not big, but the water is abundant all year round.

From England, more than 8,000 km away from home and 5 time zones, Anuja Vakil struggled for 12 days to manage and care for his father who was in critical condition. Mr. Jatin Bhagat is fighting Covid-19 at a hospital in Ahmedabad, Gujarat state, in western India. Ms. Vakil felt that her father was very lucky because he was finally hospitalized for treatment. The number of new infections and deaths caused by Covid-19 in India has increased continuously, making the overseas Indian community extremely concerned about their loved ones. Photo: Reuters. Before that, Vakil had to call everywhere to find a bed for special care for his father. Followed by the defiant costs, only hoping to get the therapeutic injection. Finally there were countless hours of phone calls with doctors, family and friends to resolve procedural issues. “I pray for my father every day,” Ms. Vakil said. The helplessness is halfway around the world India is currently in the serious Covid-19 crisis, the number of new infections daily for nearly two weeks has been continuously over 300,000, even up to 400,000 today. This number is expected to continue to increase, along with the common pain and anxiety of the Indian community around the world. According to UN figures in 2020, about 17 million Indians are far from home, and millions more have relatives in India. Accordingly, overseas Indians are considered the largest overseas community in the world. In the latest census in America, the country has about 4.8 million people of Indian descent. From afar, they watched in horror as their homeland was devastated by disease every day, heavier than any other country since the attack of Covid-19. For many people, their pain is accompanied by the greatest fear of their hearts: being unable to be around, not being able to help loved ones in times of need most. Anuja Vakil, who lives in England, has had to scurry to take care of her critical father a hospital bed in her hometown in India. Photo: New York Times. Indians all over the world are working diligently to find ways to help sick loved ones back home. Many people and organizations even collect money to buy oxygen generators, connect those who need care with their doctors, and use social media to share resources. Aid from the overseas Indian community is starting to arrive in India, with government aid from the UK, the US, Germany, Australia, among other countries. However, the return to relatives is very difficult. Ms. Vakil tries to focus on these positives. She said the Indians in her neighborhood in London were very enthusiastic to help. Some of her friends in New York also had relatives sick. She and they both try to revive the spirit of the family by daily video calling. Father Vakil couldn’t speak because he had to breathe, but he always nodded in response when she spoke. She could see the small wrinkles in the corners of his eyes every time she tried to make him laugh. Though he wanted to go home to take care of his father directly instead of talking on the screen, Vakil seemed unable to. “My sister told me to go home, but she didn’t understand it was very difficult,” Vakil said. The Indian community lives in large numbers in Southall, England. Photo: New York Times. India was added to Britain’s “red list” last week. This means that nearly all direct flights from the UK to India are suspended. Some people returning to the UK from India are subject to compulsory quarantine for 10 days at the expense of expensive hotels. On May 1, the US said it would begin to restrict movement to India. Travel restrictions, high costs, work obligations and the fear of getting a virus have left many people unable to return. As Covid-19 infections continued to rise, many people reported painful conversations with friends and family at home. They were helpless as they watched the horrors unfold in their homeland halfway around the world. “Every time I call back, someone dies” Jyoti Minocha, a writer and teacher living in Fairfax, Virginia, USA, is concerned about her mother and sister in New Delhi. She lost a cousin. Currently, she calls every day to find out about the situation of her relatives. “The street is as quiet as a ghost, my sister said. The only sound one can hear is the ambulance siren, ”Ms. Minocha said. “I talk to my mother almost every day,” said Ansh Sachdeva, 23, a student at the University of Bolton in northwest England. But every time I call back, I hear that someone dies, someone is infected ”. The Indian member of a Sikh church in Southall, London, provided thousands of meals a week to the community during the outbreak in England. Photo: New York Times. Sachdeva says in the New Delhi neighborhood where his family lives, not a single family is without sick people. He returned to India in November 2020 to help look after his parents and grandparents. Then they became infected. Now, I worry they will re-infect. More worryingly, travel restrictions could prevent him from returning if that happens. In January, Sachdeva’s mother also expressed concern when he returned to England. At that time, the country was experiencing the second wave of Covid-19. “For them then, the Covid-19 in India had ended.” But not! Many Indians abroad anxiously watch over their homeland as the government allows sports competitions in crowded stadiums, crowded election campaigns, and the attractive Kumbh Mela festival. millions of people participate. Following the brief joy after defeating the first wave of Covid-19, the number of infections began to increase exponentially. In England, the Indian community seems to be able to feel the pain of the people. In a residential store in Harrow – a community in northwest London inhabited by native Indians, two employees painfully recounted they had just lost loved ones last week. Harmeet Gill, 31, was born and raised in London, but had a paternal background in the northern Indian state of Punjab, also experiencing the same pain. His family is still extremely close and regularly in contact with relatives in India. “It was a double blow. We went through the Covid-19 crisis here, and we thought ‘Well, at least India is protected’. They are very anti-epidemic, ”said Gill. Harmeet Gill had a few relatives who died in his hometown because of Covid-19. Photo: New York Times. Then a little while later, bad news came. On April 26, his uncle in India passed away because of Covid-19. His aunt was hospitalized on April 29. Shortly before the second outbreak, his whole family had to return to India to mourn an uncle, the head of the family. “It is impotence. It shouldn’t have happened this way, ”he said. Gill, a volunteer at a Sikh temple in London, commented: “The terrifying scale of the pandemic shows that we have been paralyzed by it.” The temple was a center of aid during the UK’s plague, offering thousands of meals a week. Now, members at the temple are now looking for ways to help their homeland. Indian doctors living abroad also provide medical expertise and advice to dozens of friends and family members. Many people wake up early to respond to text messages asking for help, and some even call video counseling. The chaplain’s account of the funeral for 150 Covid-19 patients before cremation Every day, Hindu cleric RamKaran Mishra performs a funeral for about 150 people who have died from Covid-19 at the Ghazipur crematory facility east of New Delhi, India.

Wowy is not only a famous rapper, has a great voice and influence on the Hip-Hop and Rap enthusiast community in Vietnam, but for a long time, Wowy is also a passionate artist of graffiti art. From an early age, Wowy showed off his talent in street painting and was highly appreciated by the Graffiti world. It is that passion that inspired Wowy to release the song HIT Where I live is known by Rap enthusiasts and made a name for the “elder” in the Rap community in Vietnam. Visitors to Wow’s exhibition From April 27th, Wowy and his friend Tuan Andrew Nguyen opened the exhibition “End of the End Dream” in Ho Chi Minh City, with the hypothetical message that if the world is only you or you are What is it like to be death close by? Wowy gave a picture explanation. In particular, in the paintings at the exhibition, there are pictures shown through the poetic drawing by Wowy extracting blood from his own body to make ink on tissue paper. In the poem there is a written statement: “One prayerful earth for my father and my mother – I pray to God to make the Buddha safe for my brothers and sisters …” “This is my request- I just want to ask people to listen. .. Wowy said: “Wowy was a person who didn’t know how to show his love to people. When I realized I was growing up, Wowy had to learn how to show his love more by himself and spread this love as much as possible to the society, people, worldview around Wowy I know how to cherish and love more So I wrote, I wonder if it can be called poetry or not? ” Painting is represented by Wowy in blood In addition, at the exhibition, through the pictures, viewers can also see the true generosity, expression and bohemian nature of Rap’s souls. Wowy took pictures with critic Ly Doi Let’s take a look at some pictures at the exhibition made by critic Ly Doi: Sponsorship news