In middle of cinnamon forest
For a long time, Quang Ngai people have called Tra Bong and Tay Tra the land of cinnamon. Tourists going to these areas not only go sightseeing in the vast cinnamon forests but also visit Truong Ba temple, a unique historical and cultural vestige where religions of the Viet, the Cor and Cham etc intertwine.

Located next to the Tra Bong-Tay Tra inter-district road, from Truong Ba temple, visitors can overlook the green paddy fields while behind their backs, the cinnamon forests lies and Tra Bong River flows slowly through villages. The old ficus tree shadows in front of the temple, bring back to it the ancient and pensive characteristics.

According to Dai Nam nhat thong chi (Overall history of Vietnam) of the Nguyen Dynasty, Truong Ba is one of 17 typical temples in Quang Ngai.

The main room of the temple is for worshipping the Queen Goddess. The other rooms on the two sides are to worship the meritorious people who claimed the land of Tran Nam. Those are general Mai Dinh Dong and Bui Ta Han.

On the west side of Truong Ba temple, there is another temple to worship “White Tiger General”. It is said that, once upon a time, there was a white tiger in the vast cinnamon forest that local people respectably called the tiger that entered the religion. When the tiger died, the villagers buried it and built a temple, which is guarded by two elephants with seats on their backs.

According to Doctor of Culture Nguyen Dang Vu, Vice Director of Quang Ngai Information and Culture Department, the most important thing in Truong Ba temple is the intertwining of religions among the Viet, the Cor and the Cham.

Local people say that on the mid-month day of lunar calendar every year the people in Tra Bong and from other provinces in the country, regardless of religion, bring cinnamon and honey to worship in the temple to the music of the gongs.

In Tra Bong, after visiting Truong Ba temple, visitors usually go up to Ca Dam Mountain of 1,000 metres high to view the hills, mountains and the vast cinnamon forests of the Cor people.

In the past, when the land road was not built, Tra Bong cinnamon was usually shipped to Sa Can and Dai Co Luy to sell to the Chinese people to export.

Tra Bong’s cinnamon has thick bark with high level of essential oil that helped local people gain much profit in the early 1980s when their cinnamon was exported to Eastern Europe.

Tra Bong people love their cinnamon trees and thanks to the cinnamon trees they have chances to do business with other people groups. From trading cinnamon, the relations between ethnic groups here developed.

In the resistance war against the American aggressors, the Cor and the Viet, under the leadership of the Vietnamese Communist Party, rose up on 28 August 1959. After President Ho Chi Minh passed away in September 1969, they organised a commemoration ceremony and voluntarily changed their surnames to Uncle Ho’s.

Source: Tuoi Tre

Translated by Ngoc Hung