The Art of Crossbow Shooting

According to legend, the 6th day of the first lunar month is the day King An Duong Vuong ascended the throne. For more than 2,000 years, the people of Co Loa have held a festival to remember the merits of the national hero who carried the legendary magic crossbow, merged Au Viet and Lac Viet into the Au Lac nation, expanded the territory to the coastal plains, and established the capital at Co Loa.

On the morning of the 6th day of Tet, the village organizes a procession of the oration from the house of the village chief to the temple to worship the gods. The ritual delegation is solemn with five-element flags, an eight-tone band, and the oration placed in a palanquin with a canopy, followed by village officials and dignitaries. Upon reaching the village communal house, the ceremony lasts past noon. Officials and dignitaries take turns performing rituals, praying for a peaceful and prosperous life.

The festival lasts until the full moon of the first lunar month. In the evening at the village communal house, fireworks are set off and ca tru and tuong singing are performed. During the day, elderly men play cards and chess; elderly women visit communal houses and pagodas. Young men and women participate in swinging, wrestling, tug-of-war, rope climbing, human chess, cooking contests, cockfighting, and mat tossing. Most especially is the crossbow shooting contest, the highlight of the festival.

The crossbow is an ancient weapon for shooting arrows. The simple type is a bow lying horizontally on a grooved stock. The stock can be made of wood or metal. There is a simple mechanism so that when the crossbow bolt is loaded, it stays in place without needing to be held by hand. The crossbow will only fire when the trigger, usually near the grip below the stock, is squeezed. Since ancient times, the crossbow has been an optimal weapon for protecting villagers from enemies and invaders, or for hunting.

The crossbow shooting contest is held to commemorate the merits of national heroes. The contest usually takes place at the Center of the Co Loa Special National Relic Site, attracting many young men and women eager to learn crossbow shooting. Learning crossbow shooting is a traditional sport, contributing to preserving the beauty of national culture and educating descendants to be proud of their origins.

To shoot well, one must practice regularly, train strong hands and quick, sharp eyes. Practice from drawing the crossbow string, whittling arrows, and practicing shooting movements until proficient. A crossbow shooter must have stable nerves, a calm psychology, bright eyes, and steady hands to raise the bow and aim accurately at the target. Practice the technique of drawing the crossbow string evenly, pulling slowly rather than jerking. After drawing, practice aiming accurately, then release the crossbow catch to free the string and send the arrow to the target. Some crossbows can shoot multiple arrows at once, placed parallel on the body. The crossbow has great elastic force, shoots from 100 to 400 m, and has higher accuracy than a bow.

Making a crossbow is very difficult; the first difficulty is finding the right materials. According to crossbow-making and shooting experts, the material for a crossbow must be stone bamboo, carefully selected from old, straight-jointed bamboo stems. The bamboo must be cut in the 10th lunar month so it will not warp and shooting accuracy will be high, because the weather at this time is dry and neither too hot nor too cold.

The crossbow body is made of good, hard wood like a nail, resistant to termites and little affected by weather and climate. The arrows are made from old bamboo with long, straight joints, and are whittled only after they are completely dry. Hard arrows shoot accurately. The crossbow string is twisted from the bark of the ramie plant to ensure durability.

For a crossbow to meet requirements, it takes months of precise adjustment. Whittling arrows also requires great care with every knife stroke. A small person uses a short crossbow, while a tall person uses a longer one. The same applies to arrows; length does not matter as long as they fit the crossbow and are straight, with the tail not misaligned. If the crossbow design is changed to make it easier to hold, it becomes a hybrid object, not a traditional crossbow. The contest does not accept changes to the design that differ from the shape of the traditional crossbow.

In the contest, crossbow shooters especially need a certain toughness: they must not lose concentration or be psychologically affected by tourists and people around them. Experience shows that before shooting, one should moisten the crossbow string with water, and the shooting force will be stronger.

A person holding a crossbow for the first time will be very awkward, because they focus on the hand pulling the trigger and forget to hold the crossbow tail tightly. When firing, the taut string releases with full force and jerks very strongly; if not held tightly, the crossbow will fall, affecting the next shot.

Another important point is to pay attention to the crude structure of the crossbow, because accidental firing can easily occur if the shooter is careless. When using a crossbow, one must follow safety rules. The experience of the ancients was that when shooting upward, one must see the sunlight; when shooting downward, one must see the ground, to avoid unfortunate accidents.

Whenever Tet and spring come, along with the unique crossbow shooting contest, visitors to the Co Loa Festival not only admire the silhouettes of ancient legends but also encounter cultural values bearing the enduring beauty and strength of the Vietnamese nation.