Hai Phong Portal

Kim Son Ball Playing Festival

Over 20km away from Hai Phong city center, Kim Son village located in Tan Trao commune was once famous in the Japanese resistance war period. There is a kind of sport game called 'Ball Playing' which was invented by Pham Ngu Lao (a General of the army in Tran's Dynasty time) for the purpose of training his soldiers. Annually, the game is held on the 6th of New Lunar Year at the communal house's yard.

As the old saying goes:

'If 3 years passed with no ball playing games

Girls of Kim village would go away with their wishes.'

The Ball Playing festival is a legendary game but its reality was filled up with national cultural characters. Just on 30th December - Tet Holiday of Lunar year, people prepare and make a welcoming arch with parallel sentences on it:

'A great day come, Men try their best, To catch the ball'

At the festival, village families are divided into 3 Giap (teams): Giap Duong, Giap Nam and Giap Bac. Members of each Giap are called Giai Cau (ball player) (consisting of 5 strong unmarried men). Each Giap has one Tong co (the flag holder) in battledress uniforms with a turban around his head, leg-guards and a pointed flag in his hand to command his players to catch the ball.

The ball playing arena on the communal house's yard has a shape of a swallow. The main hole was dug in the middle of the yard, located right at the swallow's navel. The ball is 20kg in weight made from a root of a pip banana tree and it must be fresh, glossy and of basket size (with a diameter of 30-40cm). The ball, covered with scarlet papers and decorated with images of the four Holy animals: Long (dragon) - Ly (an imaginary animal look like a lion) - Quy (torture)- Phuong (phoenix) will be put on a fruit tray in a palanquin. At Thin hour (about 10-11am), people have a palanquin profession to the communal house's yard then put the ball in the main hole. After the first drum's sound 'cac' is heard, the competition game begins. All the men rush headlong the ball and compete each other with a hope of taking it back to their own yard. Under the yellow sunlight and sprinkling of rain, the slippery ball is absorbed with water and covered with resin and mud. Meanwhile the men are sweating and their muscles are rolling. Everything seems to be in concord with drum's sound and ceaseless shout of joy and fun...

The competition game has 3 rounds, each round takes 3 minutes. If one of the three groups wins the match (having the most times of taking the ball back to their own yard side), the shout once again resounds as thunder.

When the festival finished, the ball is thrown into a semicircular lake in front of the communal house. People jump into water to scramble for a piece for eating to try their luck.

Kim Son ball playing game festival is really a special one. Each year, it attracts thousands of visitors coming to see and take part in a noisy and never-ending joy.