Love for the land...

(Baonghean) - I was born in a rural area where the soil is mostly clay. The rainy season is incredibly muddy; but in return, there's an abundance of clay. The abundance of clay also leads to an abundance of termite mounds. Termite mounds (or termite mounds) are high mounds of termite nests. The clay taken from these mounds is top-quality clay, excellent for making toys. Therefore, rural children who love playing with clay always remember the locations of termite mounds. In the dry season, every mound is as dry as stone. To get the clay, you have to diligently water it. Water thoroughly, wait a few minutes for the water to soak in, then scoop up the clay. Usually, you can only scoop up a thin layer from the surface, because the soil in termite mounds doesn't absorb water very well. After scooping up the wet layer, you have to water thoroughly again and wait to scoop up more. You keep scooping until you have enough clay to mold. Add more water, then pound and knead the clay until it's pliable and smooth enough to be laid out on the porch or in a corner of the yard – a flat, clean place – to play with.

Clay modeling, the simplest of which is making cakes – using a toy shaped like a cake mold (a bottle cap, the hollow of a tile, etc.). The clay is packed tightly into the mold, then removed and left to dry. Ash is used as a "non-stick agent." This game is usually for girls. Boys who don't like using molds can use clay to create objects and animals of any size and shape they like. They can let their imaginations run wild and create countless toys: from plows, harrows, carts, swords, and guns to animals like buffaloes, cows, horses, and elephants… They can also use licorice seeds (small, round seeds from the licorice fruit, which, when dried, have a beautiful half-red, half-black hard shell) to fill the eye sockets. With these "windows to the soul," the clay animals suddenly become incredibly lifelike. With a more skillful touch, one could add a sword-wielding warrior to the horse's back or place a drowsy shepherd boy playing a flute under a conical hat perched on the buffalo's back for an even more impressive effect…

Illustrative image - source: internet

As for me, due to my poor artistic skills, I molded a dove into a hen, and when I molded a buffalo, my friends thought it was a horse with horns! Tired of being teased all the time, I chose a solution that killed two birds with one stone: molding carts! Cars were easier to mold; they were mostly in block or box shapes; and as for the wheels, just roll a ball of clay, flatten it, and insert a hole in the center – that's it! It was called a solution that killed two birds with one stone because molding carts had the advantage of: after drying, the clay cart could be tied with a string and pulled around. With two round bamboo sticks as axles, these clay carts could actually move, actually roll, and not just stand still like cows or horses! However, raw clay carts were easily broken and the wheels wore out quickly, so later I came up with an idea: after drying, I put them in my mother's charcoal fire to bake the clay. It was wonderful: the baked carts had a beautiful reddish-brick color and ran much more smoothly.

Furthermore, if they fell into water or were left outside in the rain, the clay cars would never risk becoming soggy and falling apart! This "technology"—which should have been patented—was immediately seized upon by my friends and used freely: they fired all their clay toys—donkeys, horses, buffaloes, cows, and carts. A few kids got whipped for extinguishing the fire; but preserving the clay toys was now easier because there was no longer the constant worry of chipped elephant ears or broken buffalo horns! And thanks to this "technology," after the summer vacation in the countryside, I could bring a whole bunch of my "fortune" to the city: cows, horses, carts; not to mention an entire train—dozens of carriages, fully functional—made of clay! That "fortune" was enough to make my city friends drool; because even with money, they wouldn't know where to buy such unique items! Oh, the happiness of childhood, a generation of childhood. No matter how small or insignificant they may seem, those clay-colored dreams have collectively nurtured our character, cultivated our souls, and breathed life into us – so that no matter where we go or where we return to, we will always remain deeply attached to the land and our homeland…

Y Nguyen

(Phu Yen)