(VHQN) - In the old days, when we were connected by the "hugs" of "Rong snake len may" (Dragon snake up to the clouds), by the tight handshakes of "Dung dang dung de". Children's games, strengthening the legs, making the body flexible, memorizing countless easy-to-remember, simple, rustic nursery rhymes made our souls as pure as the full moon.
Fun under the moonlight
Waiting for the bright moonlit nights, we would call each other and head towards the hill - where many vestiges of war remained - where only wild grass grew all over the hillside. There, under the trenches, next to the remaining bombs, was where we would play pretend battles.
We divided into enemy and friend sides. No one wanted to be a bandit, so we all tried to play the role of soldiers. The two sides fought, using the Boi Loi fruit as “bullets” in the “shooting” game. The Boi Loi fruit hit the skin painfully, the crushed shells gave off a pungent smell just like “bullet smoke”.
Growing up, each of us went our separate ways, but when we talk about childhood memories, we always remember the time we played nursery rhymes together, waited for the moon to rise together...
The enemy side always lost, raised both hands in surrender, and were led from the frog pits, the trenches... to "return to us"! The commander of our army was chosen to be a herbalist.
The other side chooses the stronger and bigger person to go first, the next one puts his arms around the waist of the previous one, and so on, forming a dragon and a snake, running and singing, the doctor and the dragon and snake respond:
“ A dragon snakes up in the clouds/ There is a shaking tree/ There is a military house/ Is the doctor home?/ Give me some fire/ What is the fire for?/ Fire to cook fish/ How many pieces of fish?/ Three pieces of fish/ Give me the head/ A piece of bone/ Give me the middle/ A piece of blood/ A piece of tail/ You can chase me away as much as you want… ”.
There are also times when we use other responses: “ Yes, where are you going?/ You are going to get medicine for your child/ How old are you?/ You are one/ The medicine is not good/ You are two/ The medicine is not good/ You are three/ The medicine is not good/ You are four/ The medicine is not good/ You are five/ The medicine is not good/ You are six/ The medicine is not good/ You are seven/ The medicine is not good/ You are eight/ The medicine is not good/ You are nine/ The medicine is not good/ You are ten/ The medicine is so good, please give me the first part/ The same bones and the same skin/ Please give me the middle part/ The same blood and the same mother/ Please give me the tail/ You can chase me as much as you want ”.
The children sang and played happily. Not only “Rong ra len may” but also “Meo chau chuot”, “Dung dang dung de”… also echoed throughout the village under the moonlight, sometimes dim, sometimes bright.
The bond of children
Back then, there were no clocks or calendars, we could only look at the moon to guess the month and day. We all knew it by heart: “ The first day of the month is a pike/ The second day is a rice leaf/ The third day is a sickle/ The fourth day is a sickle/ The fifth day is a sickle/ The sixth day is a real moon/ The fifteenth day is a hidden moon/ The sixteenth day is a hanging moon/ The seventeenth day is a bed/ The eighteenth day is a rice husk/ The nineteenth day is a pile of rice/ The twentieth day is a good night’s sleep/ The twenty-first day is midnight/ The twenty-second day is a hand/ The twenty-third day is a head/ The twenty-fourth day is where/ The twenty-five day is there/ The twenty-sixth day is like that/ The twenty-seventh day is how/ The twenty-eighth day is how/ The twentieth day is like that/ The thirtieth day is no moon ”.
We had to wait until the next full moon, so we made an appointment to go out on the "seventeenth moon", because when everyone was tired and fast asleep, we would sneak up the hill...
Just playing, but not fully understanding the game from the nursery rhyme, my grandmother explained that it was about solidarity between people, through the story of the solidarity of the dragon and snake, which could not be "broken", but had to be combined smoothly. And the higher meaning was the solidarity between the community, the will of the whole nation.
Grandma also explained why when the dragon dance reached the phrase “freely chase”, the doctor started chasing the dragon dance. The leader did everything he could to protect the tail. The doctor had to do everything he could to touch the tail, which meant touching the last person in the dragon dance. If the doctor caught the tail, he would be eliminated from the game.
Why not start from the beginning, then understand the principle of catching snakes of our grandparents, to catch snakes the fastest, must touch the tail, because the head has venom, easy to get bitten by snakes, when catching snakes, must pull hard to stretch the spine, the snake is weakened, then hit the snake hard to lose strength... From the games, the nursery rhymes that our grandparents taught the way of life, how to treat people, how to be in harmony with nature...
Growing up, each of us went our separate ways, but when recalling our childhood memories, we always remember the beautiful days of our childhood when we played nursery rhymes together, waited for the moon together. Suddenly tonight, the clear sound of laughter and voices calling each other echoed in my ears. I longed for a bright moonlit night again.
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