Spend all youth keeping the crossbow making profession

In the modern life, crossbows are almost no longer used for work and hunting by the Dao ethnic group, but are mainly used for training and sports competitions. With the desire to preserve traditional crossbow making techniques, Mr. Phung Ngoc Hoa, a Dao ethnic group member in Khuoi Deng 2, Tan Ky commune, has maintained the crossbow making profession for more than 50 years.

Many people in Khuoi Deng village have practiced crossbow shooting again.

Keep the profession of our ancestors

Although many Dao people in the village no longer use crossbows like their fathers and grandfathers did, Mr. Hoa still diligently makes them for the younger generations to practice, contributing to maintaining the national crossbow shooting sport .

In a small stilt house nestled on the mountainside in Khuoi Deng 2 village, Tan Ky commune, the sound of chisels resounds regularly in the quiet morning. Mr. Phung Ngoc Hoa makes each chisel stroke slowly, decisively and precisely. Around him, many wooden bars have been smoothed and neatly arranged, waiting to "transform" into evenly curved crossbows. The light from the window frame shines down, reflecting on the sunburned, calloused but skillful hands of Mr. Hoa, who has spent more than half a century preserving the traditional crossbow making technique.

Among the scattered wooden bars waiting to be crafted into crossbows, Mr. Hoa confided: I don’t remember exactly when I learned how to make crossbows, perhaps I started learning to make crossbows when I was around 15 years old. Each traditional crossbow of the Dao people has a body, wings, string and trigger. It looks simple at first glance, but to make a sturdy crossbow that shoots accurately requires experience and meticulous attention to detail.

Mr. Hoa said that to make a crossbow requires using 5 types of wood. Nowadays, precious woods are becoming increasingly rare and also to protect the forest, Mr. Hoa only uses 3 main types of wood such as ironwood removed from old houses, trai wood and "may dac" tree. The crossbow body is made of ironwood, light and durable, hand-carved. The wood pieces chosen to make the crossbow wings must have straight, even grain, no knots and be dry. The most time-consuming and difficult part is whittling the wings, because it requires both sides to be balanced.

According to Mr. Hoa's experience, the crossbow string is made of hemp fiber, only tightly woven hemp fiber can have tension and create great bounce for the arrow. Good craftsmen not only make beautiful crossbows but also have to carefully calculate the tension of the string, the elasticity of the crossbow wing to suit each type of arrow, if there is only a few millimeters difference when assembling, the crossbow's shooting path will also be off. There are precious woods that must be found in high rocky mountains, so to have the materials to make a beautiful and precise crossbow, it takes a lot of time to collect and find wood.

Cultural features need to be preserved

Mr. Phung Ngoc Hoa in Khuoi Deng 2 village, Tan Ky commune has maintained the crossbow making profession for more than 50 years.

Decades ago, Mr. Hoa made crossbows to shoot rats, squirrels... to destroy fields and crops. In the 1990s, Mr. Hoa began to be known by many people when he participated in national sports competitions and brought his crossbows to display. Customers from many other localities, such as: Bac Giang , Bac Ninh, Hai Phong... came to buy crossbows for shooting practice or as souvenirs.

There was a time when Mr. Hoa sold more than 50 crossbows each year, each priced at 300,000 - 500,000 VND, creating additional income and helping to improve his family's life. During the process of preserving the Dao people's crossbow making profession, Mr. Phung Ngoc Hoa provided many crossbows to athletes in and outside the province. Mr. Hoa himself was also a crossbow athlete who brought many achievements to the commune's sports movement.

Thanks to the preservation of the crossbow craft, many young people in the locality have come to Mr. Hoa to ask him for guidance in shooting. Although she has only been practicing for a few years, Ms. Dang Thi Thach has loved and is passionate about the crossbow that her father left her. She has also participated in and won achievements in crossbow shooting competitions organized by the province.

For Ms. Dang Thi Thach, maintaining crossbow training is not only to develop the national sports movement but also the responsibility to preserve the traditions and cultural identity left by her ancestors.

Ms. Thach said: Seeing Mr. Hoa diligently chiseling and whittling each piece of wood to make a crossbow every day, I was truly moved. That image made me and many others determined to practice. Every time I raise the crossbow, I feel like I am touching the tradition of my ancestors, being reminded of my roots.

Mr. Hoa's joy is seeing young people start to love crossbows again, but what worries him the most is how to get more young people to learn how to make crossbows and shoot crossbows so that this profession will not be lost and the national sport will develop further.

The crossbows of the Dao people in the past were once a symbol of strength, a hunting weapon, and a crop protection weapon. Now they have a new mission as a unique national sports tool, a cultural feature that needs to be preserved and promoted in modern life.

Source: https://baothainguyen.vn/van-hoa/202510/danh-ca-thanh-xuan-giu-nghe-lam-no-b4635bb/