Traditional Thuy Linh ball wrestling festival, Linh Nam ward

Every spring, when peach and apricot blossoms are still showing their bright colors, the ball wrestling festival of Thuy Linh village again takes place boisterously with the atmosphere of competition. Strong young men have the opportunity to show their strength. Everyone again hears the resounding sound of the village festival drum:

“Boom boom, the drum beats the five-stroke rhythm

Four pairs of robust young men surge forward to fight for the ball.”

According to the first edict still kept at the Institute of Han-Nom Studies, Thuy Linh Communal House was built more than 500 years ago, and wherever there is a communal house, there is a ball wrestling festival. Legend has it that ball wrestling was a form of military training by General Ly Hoang Chan to train soldiers to have enduring health, intelligence, and the ability to coordinate collectively in order to defeat the enemy.

Ball wrestling, a spiritual sport, has been ingrained in the flesh and blood of all Thuy Linh villagers. During the resistance against the French and the Americans to drive out the invading expansionist troops, the young men of Thuy Linh carried the martial tradition of ball wrestling with them to fight the enemy and save the country. Many young people of Thuy Linh followed the example of Ly Hoang Chan, sacrificing themselves for the people and the country.

The martial art of ball wrestling of Thuy Linh village has been passed down from ancient times to the present and will be passed down forever to future generations. Ball wrestling has entered poetry.

If you come to Thuy Linh, come and see

My homeland holds a festival in the first lunar month, ball wrestling

Wherever anyone goes

Remember the healthy festival of ball wrestling in the first lunar month

Boom boom, the drum beats the five-stroke rhythm

Four pairs of young men surge forward to compete

The ball is deep red and bright pink

Competing and racing strength, who is weaker than whom

As a man, be worthy of being a man

Contribute to building the future of the country

Preserve the traditions of our ancestors

In the first lunar month, our homeland opens the ball wrestling festival.

The Thuy Linh village ball wrestling festival expresses the cultural and belief values left by our ancestors. Ball wrestling expresses the value of community connection and education. The Thuy Linh ball wrestling festival is precisely a space and environment for community connection and education. The festival is a collective activity, born in community life, cared for to serve the community; first of all, the festival is a place to express the values of the person being worshipped, specifically here the Tutelary God Linh Lang Dai Vuong. When the festival expresses the values of the worshipped figure, this is also the value of the entire Thuy Linh village community. The whole community together extols cultural values and the strength of the whole community, creating great connections. That is also the most typical feature and value of the Thuy Linh ball wrestling festival. Whenever Tet comes and spring arrives, when the village festival takes place, no matter where the people of Thuy Linh village are, they still remember the festival day to gather for the ceremony to the Tutelary God and join together in the joyful, bustling atmosphere of the traditional wrestling festival. During the organization of the festival, families and clans have the responsibility to contribute offerings to present to the village Tutelary God and to participate in preparing facilities so that the festival can take place. The organization of the festival does not require the participation of all families and clans in the village, but through organizing the festival, the cohesion in the village community is strongly expressed. Especially community solidarity.

In the festival of Thuy Linh communal house, this is shown most clearly through all the villagers participating together in the festival. When the festival ends, the offerings presented to the god are divided among everyone in the village to receive the god's blessing. Although not much, this has shown the solidarity of sharing and enjoying the grace of the gods together, creating bonds among members of the village.

* Regarding the time and form of organizing the Thuy Linh village ball wrestling in the past and present:

Before 1945, the ball wrestling ground was in front of the Tam Quan gate of the communal house. From 1965, the state built a road through the communal house gate, there was no longer a ball wrestling ground, and the road divided the communal house and the pond. The ball wrestling ground was moved to the east of the communal house as it is today. In the past, Thuy Linh was a small village but was divided into 3 sections: at the head of the village was the Old Section, where the ancient Thuy Ai residents first lived. In the middle of the village was the Central Section, and at the end of the village was the Reform Section. Each section was again divided into 2 sides, also called giap.

The former ball wrestling festival opened on the afternoon of the 6th day of the first lunar month and ended on the afternoon of the 8th day of the first lunar month. Former ball wrestling had 6 wrestling pits, 6 sides, each side one pit, thus there were 6 pairs of young men competing. The form of awarding prizes in the past was very simple: whichever wrestling pit could get the ball into its own pit received a minor prize; three consecutive minor prizes earned one major prize. The major prize was many times the total prize money of the minor prizes.

Elders with prestige in the village sat on the stand beating the wrestling drum, called holding the drumbeat to command the wrestling. When the elders beat the five-stroke drum, the wrestling match began. When the elders struck the drum body, it meant a pit had received the ball or the ball had left the wrestling ground. The two players of whichever pit got the ball into their pit won a prize; the two winning players clasped their hands in salute before the altar to receive the prize.

Regarding the ritual of offering sacrifices and the start of the ball wrestling festival. In the morning, the officials performed sacrifices to the village Tutelary God. In the afternoon, before the ball wrestling took place, there were performances of staff martial arts, followed by sword martial arts performed by female martial artists. Next were 6 pairs of young men wrestling with a bong fruit. The large, beautiful bong fruit was selected and bought before Tet; the bong fruit was offered to the Tutelary God from the afternoon of the 30th day of Tet, until the afternoon of the 6th day of Tet when the festival opened. Bong fruit wrestling was called worship wrestling; the form of prizes was the same as ball wrestling. The ball wrestling festival ended on the afternoon of the 8th day of the first lunar month.

The ball wrestling festival in the past and present both takes place solemnly in the ritual part and joyfully and healthily in the festival part.