Young members of the E De ethnic group in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak often visit the old forest to express their sentiments and feelings, wishing for enduring love.
At one end of the road is a busy town, and at the other end a crowded school and shops are clustered together, but on the roadside is an old, untouched forest named Cu H’Lam.
The forest is located in Ea Pok Town in Cu M’Ga District in Dak Lak, about ten kilometers from Buon Me Thuot City and surrounded by the well-off E De villages of Ea Map and Cu H’Lam.
Ae But, an 89 year old E De man, said that Cu H’Lam is the most sacred forest of his people in the district. The forest has been there since before he was born.
Legend has it that beautiful H’Hoan and sinewy Y Dhin were madly in love, but were separated by villagers because they shared the same family name, Eban. E De tradition does not permit those with the same family name to fall in love, since this is considered incest.
H’Hoan and Y Dhin were punished by being forced to eat from troughs and offer a white pig to the forest god to pray for forgiveness.
H’Hoan and Y Dhin finally died and metamorphosed into the Cu H’Lam forest, where several generations of young E De have come to pray for lasting love.
Villagers say the forest is very holy. Those who say H’Hoan or Y Dhin when they are in the forest will lose their way. Any person who cuts down trees inthe forest to build houses will see their houses burst into flame.
A young E De man named Lam guided Tuoi Tre reporters in a visit the forest. Its entrance is bushy with creepers spinning everywhere. Snakes with green and yellow stripes scrambled everywhere.
Lam said that the season when the crape myrtle flowers bloom is the most beautiful of the year. Huge crape myrtle trees lose their leaves and display white and violet flowers. Young people usually visit the forest during this time to express their sentiments together.
Nguyen Van Minh, head of the Propaganda and Education Department in Cu M’Ga District, said that Cu H’Lam is a protected forest area under the management of the Ea Pok Coffee Company.
The E De love Cu H’Lam and are aware of the need to protect it. They never chop down a tree in the sacred forest, which the People’s Committee of Dak Lak Province decided to recognize as a relic on September 24, 2012.
Tran Trung Anh, a member of the planning department at Ea Pok, said that the forest covers about 18,48ha. The company is responsible for allotting land in the contiguous zone with the forest to residents for cultivating coffee and cassava.
The E De consider the forest to be valuable to their lives. As a result, while surrounding forests have been chopped down by the Kinh for farming, Cu H’Lam remains green and luxuriant.
Y Rrue Mlo, an E De elder, said that after a storm last year, workers from Ea Pok arrived to transport large tree trunks from the forest. However, villagers suspected that the trunks had been chopped down, and they encircled the workers to prevent them from taking the trunks away.
Although the workers explained that the trees had fallen down during the storm, the villagers did not believe them. They asked the workers to go with them to the district People’s Committee to clarify the matter so that they could set their minds at ease.
E De elders continue to tell their descendants the story of the sacred forest, reminding them that “Our village exists, and the Cu H’Lam forest must exist also.” That is why Cu H’Lam has been perpetual, like the love of H’Hoan and Y Dhin.