The season of the three-spotted crab festival.

I remember back in the late 1970s, when I left my hometown to study at university in Saigon, my friends, both those who grew up in cities and those from the freshwater orchards, couldn't imagine what this strange creature looked like, so they "commissioned" me to bring a few to the dormitory for them to see for themselves... Taking the opportunity, I spoke in a condescending tone: "See? It's called 'three-striped crab' because it has three lines on its shell (called 'mu' by people in Southern Vietnam), not because its weight is 150 grams and the scale we used counted exactly three crabs (back then, scales were quite common, each stripe on the balance beam was 50 grams)!"

Three-spotted crabs are amphibious crustaceans belonging to the crab family. They usually make very deep burrows underwater, but they spend all day peeking out of the burrow's opening, occasionally darting out to forage, then quickly retreating back into hiding. Three-spotted crabs usually live in pairs, with the larger, more aggressive male always positioned on the outside, providing a reliable support for the slender, delicate female beside him. Typically, crab hunters carry a bamboo basket on their shoulder and a piece of wood about three or four centimeters wide in their hand. They suddenly and forcefully cut under the burrow's opening, forcing the large, bulky male to dart out. Often, before they can grab him, he's already slipped into the adjacent burrow. This method requires strong hands and quick eyes, and even then, the best they can do is make a delicious soup; not to mention the risk of getting pinched, which could ruin the next day's work.

Yet, every year, during the high tide from July to October in the lunar calendar, swarms of mud crabs, seemingly out of nowhere, gather and cover certain mangrove and nipa palm trees along the coast of the Southwestern provinces of Vietnam. Initially, only the quick-footed male mud crabs arrive first, occupying the "prime" spots, their eight claws clinging tightly to the branches, their two large claws jutting out as if challenging, their mouths constantly blowing rings of saliva that overlap and produce a soft, rustling sound like the wind. Hearing this inviting call, the female mud crabs flock back, joining in the festivities. As night falls and the high tide reaches its peak, those mangrove and nipa palm trees are completely surrounded by mud crabs, each pair entwined with the other.

Strangely, despite the extremely high density, there was no fighting or争夺 (struggle/competition) between the male mud crabs, which are usually very aggressive. Occasionally, some would let go and fall into the sea, but they would soon find a way to scramble back up and continue their fun. It is said that although mud crabs usually live in pairs, they are not necessarily mates, and mating to maintain and develop the species only takes place during that lively festival each year.

After the lively festival days, each pair of three-spotted crabs returns to their burrows, preparing for the breeding process. During this time, the female crab burrows deep into the bottom of the burrow, doing only one thing: eating to accumulate energy to carry the eggs and give birth. Everything else, from the arduous task of finding food to fighting for safety, is handled by the male crab. The young crabs only emerge when they are strong enough to withstand and overcome the harsh challenges of nature, gradually venturing out to dig their own burrows and live the lives of adult individuals.

Of course, the crab festival day also becomes a festival day for crab hunters.

Waiting until nightfall, when the mud crabs were densely packed together, dozens of small boats, gently paddled from the village, weaved their way beneath the mangrove and nipa palm trees. On each boat was a small pond filled with about one-third saltwater, with a salinity sufficient to stun the mud crabs.

Due to their amphibious nature, mud crabs cannot withstand prolonged exposure to excessively salty water; their bodies become weak and defenseless. Even coastal farmers cannot pinpoint the exact salt concentration in these ponds; they rely on ancestral knowledge and vary from region to region. In Ca Mau , they mix salt and drop a branch of mangrove into the water, waiting for it to float to the surface. In Tra Vinh, the branch is replaced with a handful of cooked rice… Once the boat is secured, under the light of a keel lamp (later replaced by a headlamp), the man stands at the bow, holding a sieve in one hand and using a branch of mangrove or nipa palm to herd the mud crabs into the sieve, then passing it to the woman to pour into the pond. Later, improvements were made using planks about three or four inches wide as a "sliding channel," with one end resting on a branch and the other fixed to the mouth of the salt pond in the middle of the boat. Two people stand on either side of the "slide," herding schools of mud crabs into the pond. When the pond is half full, and the boat is about full, they turn back home, having enough salted mud crabs to last until the next mud crab season. This method of hunting always ensures a large quantity and rarely results in being pinched by mud crabs (probably because they're having fun and forget to fight), and the resulting product is very clean from the outside (unlike catching them in burrows) to the inside, requiring no further processing.

The three-spotted crabs are brought in and left in the pond overnight to die completely. Afterward, they are scooped out and neatly arranged in layers in small jars (if for home consumption) or in plastic bags inside large containers (for transport to the market or for distribution). Each layer of crab is topped with a layer of salt in the appropriate ratio – less salt for short-term consumption and more salt for longer storage or transport. After salting, the crab meat will absorb the salt and shrink within the claws and legs. When eating, simply put it in your mouth and gently suck (like sucking on a straw). The meat stays while the shell is discarded. "Sucks away" means the meat is sufficiently cured; "doesn't suck away" means it's not ready to eat and needs further salting. The salted crab maker tests by picking up a crab and slightly breaking off the tail of the claw; if the meat moves, the crab has "sucked away" and is ready to eat.

Just a few weeks after the harvest season, bundles of salted crabs were transported by boat and bus to markets near and far. Back then, salted crabs were a cheap food for poor laborers, so they had no market value. During harvest season, the whole family would work in the fields, sometimes hiring others or engaging in a system of "I work for you for a few days today, and you pay me back the same amount next time." With so many people, everyone had an enormous appetite. The hostess was exhausted just preparing the rice, and the food was readily available in jars of salted crabs and fermented fish sauce. The salted crabs were usually washed clean, torn into small pieces, and mixed with sugar to reduce the saltiness. When eaten, lemon juice, garlic, chili, and finely chopped raw vegetables were added to lessen the fishy smell. That's all, but we young men from the fields would devour bowl after bowl of rice.

Back then, few people thought about preparing dishes from fresh mud crabs because these creatures mainly feed on microorganisms from mud and the humus from fallen leaves in mangrove forests, so their meat and roe are black and not as visually appealing as sea crabs or freshwater crabs, which were still quite abundant. When talking about mud crabs, people almost only knew about... salted mud crabs.

Recently, perhaps initially due to the influx of poor laborers and migrants from rural areas to large cities, many of whom brought salted mud crabs with them to save money and send a little back home to support their children and parents, salted mud crabs have gradually become a popular dish in the city, favored by the middle and upper classes. Following this trend, these once-simple rural dishes have become urban specialties, favored by the middle and upper classes. Salted mud crabs have "upgraded" their status, entering the market and even appearing in upscale supermarkets, in pre-packaged boxes of a hundred grams. Housewives can buy them and store them in the refrigerator for later use. Before each meal, they simply add lemon juice, sliced sour starfruit, or finely chopped pineapple... This type of salted mud crab sauce, served with boiled sweet potato shoots or cucumber and other raw vegetables, is so delicious even the pickiest eaters would find it hard to fault.

In life, as a rule, when prices rise, quantities decrease. If the price of three-spotted crabs were as high as it is now, no one in the coastal provinces of the Southwestern Mekong Delta would have been poor in the past. Today, like many other natural aquatic species, the number of three-spotted crabs has drastically decreased (and no locality has yet attempted to cultivate them, even though sea crabs and freshwater crabs have been successfully farmed). For decades, three-spotted crabs have not gathered together, although occasionally a few pairs might be seen at night, crawling onto the branches of mangrove trees to share their stories…

TRAN DUNG

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