These feelings reflect the universe of psychical emotion which is born in them. It is not only a question of courtesy but also of frankness and, delicacy of feeling. When a male quan ho singer pays a visit to a member of a womens quan ho group, he is given the honour of the house. The woman s husband helps him to an infusion of the best tea, then goes to prepare the meal, and allows his wife to enjoy the conversation of her partner. Women receive the same attention when they visit their male partners.
Moral propriety is preserved.
Members of quan ho groups take care not to indulge in sentimental indecorum, as they are fully aware that any slips of behaviour would mean the rupture of their artistic union. This conduct proves to be a matter of moral education. Yet these men and women treat each other very lovingly, prompted as they are by the same love of art and culture. They tell one another of their joys and sorrows, like loved ones, and souvenirs exchanged between them will be faithfully taken care of all their lives. Such are the message and the aesthetic motivation of this peasant song tradition, which is at the same time a village culture in the familiar framework of the Vietnamese countryside with its ancient dinh, its century-old banyan tree, the tiny bamboo bridge across the small placid stream.