Along with South Korea, Cambodia and the Philippines, Vietnam's tug of war has been recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage representing humanity. Typical is tug of war sitting in Thach Ban ward, Long Bien district; pulling mines in Xuan Thu commune, Soc Son district, Hanoi and towing in Huong Canh Town, Vinh Phuc Province.
Tug of war in history
As a hermeneutics, the historical origin of tug of war is often associated with a folk belief, a figure of worship and a certain belief and wish of the community.
Tug of war sitting in Thach Ban, Long Bien, Hanoi is a ritual play in the village festival of people in Ngoc Tri village, Cu Linh commune, Gia Lam district, Hanoi, now belonging to Thach Ban ward, Long Bien district, Hanoi street. This is the spirit of the village's Spirit, Lang Lang.
Mining is one of the four ritual performances in the King Ba temple festival in Xuan Lai hamlet, Xuan Thu commune, Soc Son, Hanoi, held on January 4 of the lunar calendar, considered the most important festival. of the village. After the rituals, 4 performances are always practiced, including: Running contest to get water to cook rice; Running flags, Mining mines and Worship objects.
Duet song is one of the traditional folk games of 3 villages of Canh Canh, Ngoc Canh and Tien Canh (Nom is 3 Canh villages), now belonging to Huong Canh town, Binh Xuyen district, Vinh Phuc province. In the past, Canh village was held at Huong Canh communal house (Ca communal house). Elderly people said that the song appeared in the sacrifice ceremony in the second year of the year of the Goat (1943) and took place in all three festivals of the three villages. February 15, 16.17 Lunar calendar (Spring sacrifice period). Over the past 50 years, the game "Duet song" has been maintained every year.
Method of practice
The practice of tug of war also differs from the tug of war to the method of choosing participants and taboos.
Tending sitting sitting: done on the field or ground. The tree to use scissors to sit must have a length of 25-30m and a diameter of 5cm. Head and tops are equal. The twins brought back to be soaked in a well for a month before being carried up to pull. The tug was cylindrical, big like a pillar, made of ironwood, painted red. On the body of the pillar was a round hole to thread the rope. then they are buried in a tug of war. Now the zipper can be replaced with a rope but the length and diameter must be the same as the rope.
Participants in tug of war sitting are called "tug of war"; the leader of each tug of war is called General Chess. When tug of war, tug of war stretching legs, stretching legs, in each side of the team, alternately sitting alternately, the person facing this side, the other side of the tug of war. Each one stretches out his hand, the other hand is in front of his chest, the string is clamped under his armpit. After the command was made of three empty drums, the wedge was removed. The two waving flags shouted "í a, pull". The flag went up and down, wiped the commanding flag on the face, at the beginning of the pulling stages of his side to signal when to pull, when to rest, and to cheer. , adding strength to the pull team.
Pulling mines: Two bamboo sticks hooked together to use to pull up are called mines. Bamboo used to make beaks must be soft, light green, full of tops, enough leaves, not cut, in the trunks of bamboo there must be no ants, sparse burning, 7-8m long. Those who go to cut bamboos must be full-time people (including grandparents), and when going home, they must make a ceremony to inform the Holy Lady and ask permission to be a drag mine. 3 more burns to bend the mine.
People involved in pulling mines are boys in the village, aged 18-35. Each year, 2 neighbors are involved in pulling. Each hamlet chooses a team, which can be 5.7 or 9 people depending on the year (the notion that the number of pulling people must be an odd number). In the assembly, after the ceremony, the two teams stood at the two ends of the mine. 1 center line and 2 winning lines lose, if side to side is 50 cm. Usually pulls 3 rounds. The first one is called "flattening", the second half will win or lose. The specifics do not declare winning but declare the same award, the viewers will know for themselves to predict the crop that year. .
Towing the song: A tug of war with a string through a iron pole buried into the ground; Boys involved in pulling a song are called a double player. In the past, the duels were the boys of 9 muscles, 21 alleys of 3 Ke village villages, over the age of 20. The elderly people chose the songwriters who were healthy, the whole family lived. Each village is a team of 25 people, including a commander called Trich song (general) and an assistant (doctor).
Parallel wires used to pull must choose bile wire, burning (slang) evenly long, the root and the tops are relatively equal, not borer, truncated, with a length of 50-70m, a diameter of 4-5cm. The selection of the rope was sent by the elders about 7 to 10 days before the festival, the string was soaked into the well to increase the flexibility before pulling out. The monk took the string to thread through the hole of the pillar, divided the distance between the wires and marked with white lime. The villages sent out two dignitaries, reputedly holding the two ends of the zipper to go back and forth for about 3 minutes. This is called "ritual towing."
After the ritual of pulling the ritual, the "generals and soldiers" of each team holding the bunting flag stand to the right to lead their team. After the order of the celebrant, each pair of double players enter the designated pit position. Each hole has 2 players, the last hole has 1 player, the 2 leading players on each team must be the strongest person in the team called a "parallel player". When standing on one leg, one foot kicked on the pole to hold the string firmly, sometimes they used both feet to pedal on the pole to increase the pulling force, but the two players used the foot to push into the pit, leaning back, they You can sit or lie in your hole, or you can get up to pull. The song was fiercely entwined, pulling it so close to the hole that it was hot and steaming. The winning team is the team that pulls the line over the 50cm line. Weak teams, when being pulled a lot to the strong team, the two players at the end of the rope will no longer have wires called "loss". Any team that loses 3 holes is also considered a loser. In case a team is pulled out all the strings, the instruments are called losing in a string of apples (losing white). The commander of each pulling team is the leader. The parallel commander must be a tactician and has experience in using his troops to know when to pin, when to pull to ensure victory.
Tug of war and spiritual cultural values
Community is expressed in the belief when practicing tug of war is the first cultural value. The spiritual meaning of tug of war expresses the community's wishes with the meaning of wishing for good rain and wind, prosperous life, happy. This is a game deeply rooted in traditional beliefs.
The village festival is a form of commemoration of the Gods worshiped by the villagers, and also wishes a new year with a good harvest. Folk performances, including tug of war, tug of war, tug of war, are sacred rituals of the agricultural people. Although over time, there have been changes in the practice of acting, but in essence, tug of war still bears its historical value. And that deserves to be recorded as a unique folk art, an intangible cultural heritage that represents humanity.
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