Bull fighting festival in Ky Son
Every time the peach blossoms on Phu Xai Lai Leng Mountain are in full bloom, the Mong people in Ky Son are busy preparing for the bullfighting festival. The bullfighting festival officially begins on the days of Lunar New Year, but from the middle of December of the old year, the owners of the fighting bulls have gathered. Last Canh Dan Tet, the Mong people's bullfighting festival in Ky Son was held on a larger scale, because at the end of last year's bullfighting festival, the champion bull of Mr. Mua Giong Tua (Phu Kha 2 village, Na Ngoi commune) was bought by a foreign visitor for 3,200 USD.
Raising fighting bulls...very elaborate
The Mong people in Ky Son raise a lot of cows, but not every family can raise fighting bulls. The families who raise fighting bulls are those who have enough to eat, have money, have experience and have passion. To buy a bull to raise for fighting, one has to hunt for weeks, sometimes months in Laos.
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The fighting bull of Mr. Xong Nhia Tinh in Ka Duoi village, |
The initial standards for fighting bulls are that they must have long horns (twice or three times longer than a normal bull), a big hump, broad shoulders, and a slim body. Each selected bull usually costs no less than 15 million VND. Fighting bulls are bought and kept in special cages (this explains why there are no young fighting bulls in Ky Son and they have to be bought all the way from Laos). The cages are made of good wooden planks, have a floor to prevent the ground from blowing, and are large enough for the bull to stand.
Being "confined" in a standing position in a narrow space will train the fighting bull to have four strong legs and a hot temper, ready to fight when encountering an opponent. The food for fighting bulls is delicious grass, rice porridge, and corn porridge.
In addition to the whole family having to worry about feeding the cows, the head of the family is also responsible for feeding and monitoring the cows' health. The daily food rations of fighting bulls are carefully calculated to ensure that the fighting bulls are healthy and avoid obesity. Every few months, each fighting bull will be "test-matched" with opponents in the area.
In these "trial fights", winning or losing is not important, but the main thing is that the owner sees the fighting bull's moves. The bull that knows how to hook its horns into the opponent's neck is the good bull. The bull that only knows how to rely on its strength, raised for a few years but still does not improve, or unfortunately breaks its leg or horn in the "trial fight", the owner has to switch to raising beef cattle, losing nearly ten million dong.
Talking about the raising of fighting bulls by the Mong people in Ky Son, Mr. Xong Ba Denh, Party Secretary of Ca Duoi village (Na Ngoi commune) said: "The bullfighting festival of the Mong people in Ky Son has existed for a long time. To preserve that traditional beauty, although raising fighting bulls is very elaborate and costly, our families are not very rich, but we still encourage families to raise fighting bulls. If we raise them, we can easily promote them. The good news is that in recent years, thanks to good business and people who love bullfighting from Laos and China coming to Ky Son to watch bullfighting and buy good fighting bulls at very high prices, now there are more than 100 Mong families in Ky Son raising fighting bulls."
And bullfighting festival
The Mong people's bullfighting festival in Ky Son is not fussy about the grounds. The village that has the champion bullfighting in the previous year will be chosen as the venue for the festival the following year. On the flattest piece of land in the village, Mong people from all over Ky Son district and bullfighting enthusiasts from across the border flocked in. Dozens of fighting bulls roared in frustration before the match, resounding in a corner of the forest. According to the previous agreement, each pair of fighting bulls would compete in turn. Amidst the crowd of cheering people, the referees also acted as security guards, always ready to intervene with sticks to prevent the rebellious bulls from charging at the spectators.
On the field, two bulls fought each other fiercely and intensely. Each bullfight usually lasted from 15 to 30 minutes, but there were finals that lasted several hours. The final match of the Tet bullfighting festival in the year of the Ox was between the bull of Mr. Mua Giong Tua and the bull of Mr. Xong Dua Tong in the village of Buoc Mu 1 (Na Ngoi commune).
To advance to the finals, the two bulls had competed and eliminated dozens of opponents. Entering the decisive match, the two bulls struggled with each other bit by bit. Finally, taking advantage of the moment when the opponent was a bit exhausted, the horn of Mr. Mua Giong Tua's bull hooked the neck of Mr. Xong Dua Tong's bull.
Mr. Xong Dua Tong's bull ran away from the arena. The reward for the champion bull is the earth-shaking cheers of the spectators and the reputation will spread quickly throughout the Mong village with respect. If in the bullfighting festival, a bull unfortunately dies, the bull owners will pay money to buy a calf for the person whose bull died as a consolation.
In recent years, especially since 2009, when the Mong people in Ky Son hold bull fighting festivals, bull fighting enthusiasts from China and Laos also come to watch in large numbers.
In 2009, Mr. Mua Giong Tua's champion bull was auctioned by many foreign guests, and finally a Chinese guest bought it for 3,200 USD. The fact that Mr. Mua Giong Tua's bull was exported abroad at such a high price made the Mong people in Ky Son very happy. More and more people are raising fighting bulls. It would be very difficult for every Mong family to raise and sell fighting bulls at a high price like Mr. Mua Giong Tua's bull. But this is a good sign for the traditional bullfighting festival of the Mong people in Ky Son to be preserved and developed. And who knows, one day the bullfighting festival in Ky Son will be like the Do Son buffalo fighting festival that makes everyone who travels back and forth remember... "When Tet comes... the Mong people in Ky Son have a bullfighting festival".
Lake Linh
