The traditional game is considered a spiritual ritual in the Tran Vu temple festival in Ngoc Tri village, which is held annually on the third day of the third lunar month.
The game originated from an old story which goes that 11 of 12 wells in the village were dry when the village suffered a prolonged drought, only the well in Dia hamlet still had water.
Residents in the hamlet did not want to share the water with other hamlets so they prevented men from Duong and Cho hamlets from taking any. The two sides had to sit down to keep the water pail on their side for fear of spilling water out of the pail.
The elders in the village made the tug-of-war while sitting down to remember the old story and pray for favourable weather conditions and bumper crops.
The recognition of Ngoc Tri village’s tug-of-war as a national intangible cultural heritage is expected to contribute to raising public awareness of preserving traditional rituals.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism also joined some other countries in the region to submit dossiers on their traditional tug-of-war games to the UNESCO for recognition as a Multinational Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
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