How ancient people made fire

(Quang Ngai Newspaper) - Fire plays an important role in human life, not only for cooking and heating but also helps in agricultural cultivation, preserving and storing food to feed people. Since ancient times, people have created fire in many ways to serve their lives.

In the past, when there were no convenient means of making fire such as matchboxes or lighters, when traveling far away, hunting in the forest, or burning fields, people had to have tools to make fire. There were two common ways of making fire of the ancients, the first way, which probably originated in the "primitive" period, was to rub objects together to heat them up, thereby creating a flame. The second way was to use a sparking tool to create a spark, which would then ignite the fire.

For the first method, the simple material to make fire is dry bamboo. People go into the forest to find a very dry young bamboo tree, split the bamboo tube into a trough. Take that bamboo trough and carve a hole in the middle and put it on the ground and take another bamboo tube and split it into thin pieces to make fire. The person making the fire uses both feet to hold the two ends of the bamboo trough and both hands to pull the bamboo slices through the trough. Just pull the saw back and forth continuously like playing a erhu until the dry bamboo string breaks, then there will be fire to light cigarettes, warm up, cook, burn fields... This way of making fire is usually effective in the dry season, but in the rainy season it is a bit difficult to light.

Some tools including tinder, iron bars and chicken liver stones used to create fire by ancient people.

When hunting and gathering in the mountains and forests, people only need to bring a little rice and salt, and with homemade fire-making tools, they can cook with ingredients available in nature. Water in bamboo tubes can also be used for normal cooking, without having to get water from rivers and streams. Dishes cooked in bamboo tubes, called lam dishes (lam rice, lam soup, lam meat, lam fish) have a delicious taste.
In the past, each family had their own way of keeping the fire going or “asking for fire” from the neighbors. Every morning, before leaving the house, people had to clean up the stove and put out all the fire, leaving only a stick of firewood buried under the ashes to keep the fire going. The stick of firewood was a dry piece of wood, as big as a thigh or larger, it was the stick of firewood that kept the coal from one night to the next.

The second method, which uses the principles of physics, is more creative. It is quite popular among many ethnic groups, even those living in the plains or midlands. Whenever they travel far, they carry with them a short bamboo tube with a lid or a small bag made of dog skin. In that tube or leather bag, there is a small flat piece of iron the size of a thumb, a piece of brown chicken liver stone and some steel wool.

When fire is needed, people take out those things, one hand holds a rock with tinder attached, the other hand holds an iron bar and hits the rock hard, immediately shooting out many sparks. The sparks fall on the tinder, the tinder catches fire. At that moment, they take some dry leaves to light it, and there is a fire. That way, the people call it making a match. The secret is to have a well-tempered iron bar and a chicken liver stone, because black and white stones do not produce much fire. As for the tinder, they cut some types of forest trees, scrape off their outer shells, put them in a bag to keep them from getting damp, and save them for later use. The chicken liver stone hits a good iron bar hard and will produce fire, and when it meets the tinder, it is the fuel that creates the fire. That is the primitive, ancient match of many ethnic groups.

The above methods of making fire were used by the ancients when going to the forest or far away, in deserted places, where there was no place to "ask" for fire to use. Firewood and fire are things that represent prosperity, bringing life to each family. Fire is a sacred symbol, creating culture, maintaining life for ethnic minorities in the mountainous regions. With the knowledge and experience in creating fire, keeping fire, controlling fire and the rich behavior, customary laws, and folk beliefs, it has partly shed light on the interesting and unique cultural features and customs of many ethnic groups. Many cultural heritages related to fire and fireplaces are still valuable in today's life in the villages of ethnic minorities in the highlands of Quang Nam.

Article and photos: TAN VINH

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Source: https://baoquangngai.vn/van-hoa/202407/cach-lam-ra-lua-cua-nguoi-xua-bf342ad/