QuickCheck: Is there a mud-themed ball sport in Vietnam?

WE have heard of mud baths or hot springs. Besides being known for their therapeutic values, many believe these spa treatments offer health benefits like skin soothing and even stress relief.

Some places where you can experience this are South Korea‘s Daecheon Beach during the Boryeong Mud Festival. Closer to home, there are the Kampung Meritam mud volcanoes in Sarawak’s Limbang.

But is it true that Vietnam has a festival where people engage in mud ball wrestling?

VERDICT:

TRUE

Amusingly, yes. Van Village in Vietnam’s Bac Giang province has played host to the traditional Mud Ball Wrestling Festival for many years.

This three-day-long event takes place once every four years, praying for bountiful harvests and good weather.

Folklore has it that the festival also pays tribute to the Saints of Tam Giang, who fought valiantly against the “black demons”.

Standing on a field covered in mud are more than a dozen local wrestlers, clad in loincloths, competing to score the goal (think football match).

Instead of a leather ball, a 20kg ironwood ball, representing the sun, will be tossed into the air, and wrestlers must push it into the opponent’s goal pit.

Villagers and tourists alike will gather to witness this “mud” spectacle.

Reference:

https://en.nhandan.vn/in-pictures-unique-mud-ball-wrestling-festival-in-bac-giangs-van-village-post135790.html#:~:text=Pictures-,In%20pictures:%20Unique%20mud%20ball%20wrestling%20festival%20in%20Bac%20Giang’s,wood%20and%20weighs%20nearly%2020kg

https://vietcentertourist.com/blog/mud-wrestling-for-a-ball-festival-%E2%80%93-only-in-this-northern-provincial-village-of-vietnam.html#:~:text=First%2C%2016%20healthy%20young%20men,to%20worship%20before%20the%20match

https://en.vietnamplus.vn/van-village-mud-ball-wrestling-sun-worship-and-fun-in-the-mud-post235306.vnp#:~:text=15/05/2022%2002:,The%20ball%20represents%20the%20Sun