A time of passion

Born and raised on the land of Nghia Do, like other young people in the village, Ma Van Toan has been exposed to crossbows since he was 10 years old. The crossbows were associated with his childhood and the youth in the village and gradually became passionate about hunting birds and wild animals.

Next to the renovated wooden house from a traditional stilt house to a loft to fit the street, Toan is quickly wiping away the dust on the hanging crossbows in the living room. Sipping a cup of green tea with smoke, he recalled the old story. “That day, when I was only 10 years old, my father gave me a separate crossbow to carry while herding buffaloes. To practice shooting properly, we often challenge each other, whoever can shoot birds, wild animals or hit many arrows at the target, that day will not have to go to herd buffalo, but the whole association will be responsible for herding buffaloes on behalf of the other. Just like that, passion and crossbow shooting skills gradually mastered."

Ma Van Toan makes crossbows to sell to tourists.

After graduating from secondary school, Mr. Ma Van Toan was recruited for military service. After 2 years, he returned to his hometown, built a family and established a business. Life with an economic burden on his shoulders made him forget his passion for crossbow shooting even though after completing his military service, he participated in the Lao Cai Provincial Crossbow Shooting Tournament and won the first prize in 2017.

Putting the soul in the passion

In the simple wooden house in Na Dinh village, in the afternoon, people often hear laughter, discussion of the members of the crossbow shooting club, and then the sound of "crackling" every time the crossbow string is crossed. Touch the arrows as they practice in the courtyard of Nghia Do Temple.

While instructing people to practice shooting, Toan confided: After being discharged from the army, I chose to cut hair and cut letters for weddings and local conferences. Although I later participated in a crossbow shooting competition in the province and won the prize, due to my family's difficult economic situation at that time, I only considered crossbow shooting as a passion, but could not pursue it forever.

With his bravery, Uncle Ho's army, studying hard, improving his skills, his barber shop and lettering shop are more and more known, his income is increasing, his life is gradually stable. In 2019, Ma Van Toan cherished the idea of establishing a crossbow shooting club in Nghia Do commune. Then, with the encouragement of the local government and brothers and friends, in April 2020, the Nghia Do Commune Crossbow Shooting Club was born.

“Many nights lying in bed thinking and seeing many crossbow shooting clubs in Lao Cai province also started from the countryside, when participating in provincial and regional tournaments, they won many high achievements. Meanwhile, in Nghia Do, there are many good crossbowmen who are passionate about crossbows, so I decided to establish a club, both creating a useful playground for everyone, and creating opportunities to exchange and learn with other players, other clubs and, more importantly, preserve the national cultural identity," said Ma Van Toan.

To maintain the club's activities, he mobilized people to collect and donate trees to make crossbows. When he made enough crossbows for 30 members of the club, he came up with the idea of producing crossbows in large quantities to supply to the market, creating a source of income and operating funds for the club. Currently, his crossbows are not only sold to locals, but many tourists who come here often order them to use and as souvenirs.

Thanks to the talented, meticulousness hands and care of a barber, cutting letters, the crossbows are created with quality assurance, high stability and most importantly, aesthetics and sculpture on the body of the crossbow. Anh Toan shared: To make a normal crossbow takes 2-3 days, the more special crossbows (with carved patterns of the Tay people) it takes up to 1 week to complete.

To improve the level of the "crossbowmen" in the club, in addition to practicing together in leisure time, Toan also contacted clubs inside and outside the province to organize friction competitions, exchanges and competitions. participate in tournaments. Recently, at the Tournament of tug of war, pushing sticks and shooting crossbows in Lao Cai province in 2021, Mr. Ma Van Toan participated in the competition and won the third prize. This is the joy and motivation for him and the club to continue to keep the passion for crossbow shooting.