Been living in Hanoi, Vietnam for more or less 10 years, today finally I have the chance to visit Dao Thuc traditional water puppet craft village. Located away from Hanoi around an hour by motorbike, through Dong Anh town, I asked for the road to Thuy Lam commune. The road is accompanied with rice fields on both sides from here. It was the harvesting season so the air was filled with the aroma of fresh rice grass. From afar, I could see Dao Thuc village starting to appear.
In the past, Dao Thuc village was named Dao Xa, until during the Dong Khanh King period (1886 – 1888) it was changed to Dao Thuc. Dao Thuc water puppet appeared in the Later Le dynasty. The Father of the craft is Nguyen Dang Vinh (named Phuc Khiem – The Duke Dao). The days when he was working as a noble in the Le dynasty, having access to many kinds of puppet art in different provinces, later on, he moved back to his hometown and passed on this quintessential art to his villagers. Ever since the first day, Dao Thuc water puppet has gone through countless ups and downs, quite sometimes they had to stop the craft. Until 1984, with the sponsor of The International Puppetry Association and UNIMA (UNESCO) organisation, Dao Thuc village gradually revived its arts along with the help of Hanoi Puppetry Association (currently Thang Long water puppet theatre).
Right at the entrance of the village, you can see a small ancient pagoda and adjacent to it is the water house (Thuy Dinh) – the stage of water puppet shows. Thuy Dinh is a house built on the surface of a pond with its curved roof in the shape of a dragon and the moss tiles coloured by time. The front of Thuy Dinh has a velvet green sedge curtain, as green as the colour of the pond water, and behind it is the space where the artisans immerse themselves in the water, performing incredibly special feats. I was very lucky enough to visit the water puppetry on a special occasion where they were hustling and preparing to perform a show for a group of visitors.
Words
Phương Mây
Location
Thuy Lam, Dong Anh district
Hanoi, Vietnam
The show ended, inside Thuy Dinh – the hidden place of many colourful water puppets, I met Uncle Cuong – one of the artisans who took part in the show earlier. He told me with his sparkling eyes full of pride: “People in the ward are all veterans, some are rewarded Meritorious Artists. For many years, quite many international and domestic visitors have come for our water puppet shows. This is the chance for us to continue to reserve, promote and introduce this outstanding art-form to international friends. Besides, we organise an annual training course for our young generation. Just like that, fathers pass on the art to children with the only message that is to let the love and the fire of the water puppet ward burn up eternally.”
Leaving Uncle Cuong, leaving Dao Thuc water puppet ward, I felt content and proud because here – the love and traditional values of puppetry has always been nourished and reserved by the villagers. Feeling happy when having the very chance to witness in my own eyes the inside of Thuy Dinh where the middle-age experienced artists took complete control of their puppets under water in the smoothest and the most skillful way. Feeling proud because our national traditional art-form is loved and concerned by people from around the world.
