(TITC) - Tugging is
a longstanding and popular form of community activity in rice farming cultures
in East Asia and Southeast Asia, typically the Republic of Korea, Cambodia,
Philippines and Viet Nam.
Characteristics
Tugging is a social ritual with the purpose of wishing for rainfall required for agriculture and
bountiful harvests or fortune-telling with regards to the success or failure of
farming efforts. It is believed that practicing and obeying
to the rules of tugging ritual will help abundant harvests, prosperity and happiness. So, not only as a common folk game,
tugging also contains deep culture values expressing through own customs and beliefs
of each country.
In Viet Nam, tugging
rituals and games are concentrated mostly in the Northern Midlands, the Red River Delta, and the North Central, which are the ancient land of the Viet and the cradle of the native wet
rice culture. In addition, they are regularly
practiced by ethnic groups in the Northern
Mountains, such as Tay, Thai, and Giay.
Held as a part of the spring festivals, marking the beginning of a
new agricultural cycle and expressing wishes for bumper crops, Tugging rituals
and games generally entail the participation of almost all members in the
community, each member plays distinct role such as practitioners, guiders, observers,
transmitters, supporters, etc. Of which, the elders, especially ritual
specialists, always play significant roles delegating duties, guiding the rules
of the tugging games, and play the key role in other related rites.
Tugging rituals and
games are often organized in front of a villages communal house. The materials
used in tugging vary from region to region; they can be made of bamboo poles,
rattan cords, or hemp, reflecting the ecological and cultural context of each
community. Each tugging game has the participants of two teams with equal
number of members. The two teams will hold tightly two ends of a rope marked by
a red ribbon in the middle. When tugging game begins, the members of each team
will try to pull the rope. The winning team must pull the red-ribbon mark on its
side.
In tugging rituals
and games, the selection procedures for the tugging rope and contenders follow
particular ritual rules and local customs. The winning team and the losing team
are often arranged by custom to express certain religious meanings and the
harmony of nature. For example, the tugging rituals and games of the Tay and
Giay allow the teams to be a mix of genders, and efforts are made to ensure
that the womens team wins on even-numbered years, which symbolizes
reproduction and fertility.
