Cổ Loa wrestling art

For early-spring festivals, according to Cổ Loa people, a festival without a wrestling ring “loses all its joy.”

Wrestling is a very ancient sport that has developed alongside the Vietnamese people to this day. Since ancient times, wrestling has been regarded as a sport for training strength, testing talent, and selecting strong and healthy people to help the people and the country.

Wrestling is a sport that uses only strength, with no equipment or tools for support; therefore, besides health, wrestlers must also have “position,” “techniques,” and unexpected, skillful, and agile moves. Some notable techniques are đánh dịp nhì (counter-attack technique) and footwork techniques: advancing and retreating, stepping sideways and diagonally, turning around…

When the festival-opening drumbeat begins, the wrestlers step onto the ring and perform the ra giàng ritual, crane dance, or xe đài. This is a form of warm-up with national character, and also a way for wrestlers to perform for the audience and create an exciting, healthy atmosphere. The ra giàng ritual, in which the two sides circle each other, also has the meaning of “psychological attack,” making the opponent confused and wavering, with heroic ra giàng styles: standing like a crane, standing like a phoenix shifting its feet, like a bird spreading its wings, or like a peacock dancing and spreading its tail, with soft wrists and flexible dancing fingers.

The wrestlers wear loincloths and are bare-chested, without belts, and wear a headscarf shaped like an axe head or a scarf with tassels. The loincloth is a long piece of cloth wrapped around the body, in many colors: blue, red, yellow, pink, purple… The only musical instruments are drums and gongs. Common wrestling moves include: kê (using the hip or shoulder as a pivot to throw the opponent down); ngáng (using a leg to sweep or block, obstructing the opponent’s leg so they lose balance and fall backward); đệm (using a knee or thigh to place behind the opponent’s leg, then pushing to make them fall backward). There are also moves such as bốc, gồng, sườn…

Previously, traditional wrestling mainly took place during early-spring festivals and celebrations. Gradually, this sport has also been performed in competitions and performances and is regularly organized as a traditional sport. In Cổ Loa, early-spring wrestling rings always attract a large number of visitors from everywhere, which partly proves the appeal of this sport.