Puppets in the Yên Đức Rice Fields; North Vietnam

Vietnamese Dance of the Water Fairies
Wooden water-puppets dance for their small audience, Yên Đức Village, Vietnam.

Tháp Rùa – Turtle Tower
We arrived very late into Old Hanoi – with only enough time to walk around Hồ Hoàn Kiếm, or the “Lake of the Returned Sword”, in the historical centre of the city before bed. (iPhone6)

Chan Thien My
Next morning, we set off early; only the vegetable venders were up in the still-dark streets of Old Hanoi. Mid-morning, our van stopped at Sao Đỏ, roughly half-way between Hanoi and Halong.

Chan Thien My
This large building houses – in addition to the coffee shop, gift shop, and toilets – an extensive workshop where adults with various disabilities work on beautiful long-stitch embroidered pictures.

Hands at Work

Delicate Stitches
Different embroidery stitches give the work texture.

Gallery
The framed, finished products are quit beautiful.

Sewing Table
The workshop also produces clothing – predominantly in silk – for sale to the passing tourists.

Cobra and Scorpion Whiskey
Other local “specialities” are also for sale. Rice wine or whiskey bottled with snakes and scorpions is popular in Southeast Asia as an aphrodisiac and traditional medicine.

“Mr Thay”
Outside in the carpark, the elderly security guard keeps an eye on our van and belongings.

Yên Đức Rice Fields
Our next stop is just short of Halong, at the rural village of Yen Duc.

Water Puppet Theatre
We seat ourselves on woven mats overlooking the small watery “stage”.

The Musicians
The musicians enter, welcome us, and introduce themselves before the show starts.

“Dance of the Dragons”
After the narrator, or Chu Teu, welcomes us, we are treated to a pair of frolicking dragons. Dragons or serpents feature repeatedly in Vietnamese lore: according to legend, the Viet people are descended from a dragon and a fairy!

Men Cultivating Rice
The scenes or “stories” are quite short, and many depict activities from rural daily life. The narrator gives us an outline before each vignette.

Women Cultivating Rice
We watch the whole rice-growing cycle, from plowing to planting and harvesting.

The Phoenix Dance
This is another water-puppet standard: phoenixes symbolise noble love and fidelity. After an amorous courtship, an egg is produced – much to the audience’s amusement. This egg hatches as a little golden phoenix, and they all swim off together.

Farmers and their Ducks
In another popular tale, a farming couple have to guard their precious ducks against marauding foxes. This “fox” looks more like a local civet, with his spots and his ability to climb trees! I’m not sure why Mrs Farmer has a cut-out top exposing her breasts.

Dance of the Vietnamese Water Fairies
According to popular local legend, back in in 2800 BC, King Lac Long Quan, also known as the Dragon Father, married Au Co, the Fairy Mother. They gave birth to 100 eggs which hatched into 100 sons who became the ancestors of the “54 brotherly ethnic groups in Vietnam” and the Hung Vuong dynasty.

Fishing
In another depiction of rural life, puppets show us the different baskets, nets, and rods that the Vietnamese people use to catch fish from the many rivers, ponds, and lakes.

Water Puppeteers
At the end of the show, the puppet operators come out to take their bows. They have been standing behind the bamboo screen, operating their puppets with a pole-and-string apparatus hidden by the murky pond water.

Water Puppets
Inside the Yen Duc Village Tour restaurant, we get a closer look at some examples of the water puppets: they are carved of wood from the ubiquitous fig tree, painted, and waterproofed with resin. The movable parts – in this case, head and the arms – are attached with cloth, strings, wires, or even twisted hair covered with a layer of wax.

Rice Paddies
Looking at the landscape that surrounds the restaurant/theatre, you can understand why “water” is so central. In fact, nước – the word for “water” also means “country” in Vietnamese.