Crossbow Crafting Enthusiast

( Quang Ngai Newspaper) - Mr. Dinh Van Rang (59 years old), in Da Ban residential group, Ba To town (Ba To), is one of the very few Hre people who currently know how to use and make crossbows. Mr. Rang actively teaches the use of crossbows to young people to participate in competitions during traditional festivals.

Crossbow shooting is the favorite sport of Lieutenant Colonel Dinh Van Rang, former assistant of Military Intelligence - Reconnaissance (Ba To District Military Command). Mr. Rang is now retired and spends a lot of time shooting crossbows in his garden to improve his health. Admiring Mr. Rang's crossbow shooting and crossbow making skills, local people often call him "king of crossbows".

Mr. Dinh Van Rang instructs local youth on how to make crossbows. Photo: Thien Hau

Hearing a guest asking about crossbows, Mr. Rang was as happy as if he had met someone who shared his passion. He quickly went into the house to get the unfinished crossbow, enthusiastically introducing the parts and how to make it. He said that a crossbow has 4 main parts including the crossbow board, the crossbow string, the crossbow trigger and the crossbow wings. The crossbow board is made from wood of long muc, jackfruit and lacquer trees; the crossbow string is made from giang forest trees; the crossbow trigger is made from buffalo horn; the crossbow wings are made from trac tree, which can be replaced with bamboo or old areca trees. In addition to the crossbow, there are also arrows made from the bamboo tree.

Mr. Rang said that among the parts that make up a crossbow, the crossbow wing plays the most important role. Because the wing is the heart of the crossbow, all the power converges here. The crossbow maker must prioritize choosing good wood so that the wing is solid, strong, and highly elastic, maintaining stability in all weather conditions. The crossbow wing must be sharpened very straight, with both sides being equally thick to have high shooting power, so that the arrow can "cut through the wind" and fly quickly, hitting the target. "It looks simple, but to make a crossbow takes a lot of time and effort, taking a week, even a few months. That is when the materials are available, otherwise it takes a whole year. Because after finding the materials, they must be hung in the kitchen, dried for a long time before being brought out to make to ensure the requirements," Mr. Rang said.

It takes a lot of time and effort, but every time he completes a custom crossbow, Mr. Rang is very happy and only sells it to people who share the same passion. Depending on the quality of wood and size, each crossbow costs from 300,000 to 700,000 VND.

Mr. Rang was born and raised in Di Lang town (Son Ha). At the age of 13, his father taught him how to use and make crossbows. By the age of 23, he had made his first crossbows. He was famous as a skilled crossbow craftsman and a good crossbowman. Mr. Rang said that in the past, crossbows were an indispensable item in daily life. Every house had a crossbow, used to protect crops, families, and villages from wild animals. Back then, in my free time, I and the young people in the village would carry crossbows, carry quivers of arrows, and go deep into the forest to hunt animals. When we returned at night, everyone had a couple of squirrels, weasels, etc. hanging on their shoulders...

Over time, the position of crossbows for many Hre families is not the same as before, but for him, the crossbow is always attached. He participates in performances in community activities, local festivals, and competitions for ethnic minorities in and outside the province. When his health is no longer as good as when he was young, he cannot participate in many competitions, so he switched to teaching how to use and make crossbows. "With Mr. Rang's guidance, my crossbow shooting skills are increasingly perfect. I also gradually learned the secret of making a crossbow with high accuracy and am eager for the day when I can own a complete crossbow to perform in festivals," said Mr. Dinh Van Su (33 years old), a militiaman in Ba To town.

According to the Deputy Director in charge of the Center for Information, Culture and Sports of Ba To district, Huynh Huu Thai, crossbow shooting is a unique traditional sport, suitable for customs, practices, and the working environment of slash-and-burn farming, contributing to strengthening the strength of national unity in the area. Over the past years, Ba To district has included crossbow shooting in mass competitions from commune and district levels, creating a useful playground for people, promptly discovering new crossbow shooting talents to preserve the traditional sport of the Hre people. Mr. Rang is a typical nucleus, with many contributions to the local mass sports movement, especially teaching the use and making of crossbows to the younger generation.

HEAVEN

Source: https://baoquangngai.vn/channel/2024/202205/nguoi-dam-me-che-tac-no-3117488/