Tung is also one of the most fun games of the Tay people during the spring festival, imbued with the traditional cultural identity of the nation. Playing Tung is also one of the occasions for young men and women to find love, a message of hope for harmony between yin and yang, harmony of nature, bountiful harvests, and good luck all year round.
To prepare for the shuttlecock throwing, people find a large, straight bamboo tree, 12 - 15 m high, to erect a pole. One end of the bamboo tree is tied to a circular plywood board with a diameter of about 30 cm. In the middle of the circular plywood board, there is a round hole with a diameter of about 15 cm for the player to throw the shuttlecock through. Then, the two sides of the circular board are covered with yellow, green or red paper to decorate it beautifully and to represent the yin and yang of heaven and earth. On the outside of the plywood board, there are also bunches of chicken feathers and beautiful green and red paper tassels. When the decoration is finished, the circular plywood board is tied to the top of the bamboo tree. The shuttlecock throwing pole is erected in the middle of a large, flat area of land, with a lime line at both ends as a landmark for the person standing to throw the shuttlecock. The distance from the lime line to the shuttlecock throwing pole is about 20 - 30 m.
The participants of the con tossing festival are usually young men and women, however, there is no regulation on the composition and everyone can participate in the game. Therefore, before Tet, the adults in the family have made con for their children to participate in the festival. The con is designed with two pieces of colorful, square fabric, each side is about 10 cm. After sewing the two pieces of fabric together and leaving a small hole to put rice or cassia seeds inside so that the con has a moderate weight, then sew it closed. When this step is completed, the con is decorated with a bow with colorful threads to increase the vivid appearance when used. The con can be sewn with 12 fabric segments with 12 colors, but most con has from 4 to 8 segments. Finally, take a piece of fabric about 1 - 1.2 m long, sew one end of the string to the bow of the con. On the fabric string, every span, fabric tassels about 5 cm long with many colors are sewn to make the shuttlecock both beautiful and help it guide its flight path when thrown into the air.
The con tossing festival in the spring is usually held in January, mainly during and after the Lunar New Year. From the second day of the Lunar New Year, young people in the villages gather together to go to other villages to participate in the con tossing fun. This is an opportunity for young men and women to meet each other through folk songs. When tossing the con, men and women are divided into groups of 5-7 people, women stand alone at one end of the yard, men stand at the other end of the yard tossing the con. When tossing the con, the girl brings a handkerchief, and the boy has money in his pocket. The girl can actively choose to throw the con in the direction the boy chooses. If the girl throws the con through the hole in the middle of the round board on the pole, the boy must tie his money to the con to throw it back. Conversely, if the boy throws the con through the hole, the girl must put money in her handkerchief, tie it to the con and throw it back. Through the con tossing festival, many young men and women become husband and wife.
In fact, nowadays, Tung Con is no longer divided into groups of men and women standing separately at each end of the field, but mixed together and does not have the strong friendship as before. Everyone participating in Tung Con can freely play according to their preferences. Those who throw the ball through the bull's eye will be rewarded with money or gifts by the organizers. At the same time, in the festival, there are many other folk games such as pushing sticks, tug of war, playing chess... But even though there are many more fun games of the spring, Tung Con is still a game with a strong Tay identity and will forever exist with the Tay people.
Spring Love
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