In northern Vietnam people make clay dishes that explode when hurled to the ground. But why?

Big bang theory: No one is quite sure why phao dat-making became a tradition but the pastime is still popular in several Red River Delta provinces.

Like a flamboyant pizza maker spinning his dough, a man from Thai Binh province lifts a large, round clay dish, above his shoulders and lets it fly with a twirl. The crowd gasps in expectation before the dish lands on the ground with an emphatic, sharp bang.

This is phao dat, an entertaining, traditional activity that is popular in the Red River delta provinces of Thai Binh, Hai Duong, Bac Ninh and Hai Phong. There is some debate over when these exploding clay dishes first appeared as well as why.

People from Thai Binh’s Quynh Phu district claim that in 1285AD Tran Hung Dao was leading his troops to the north to repel the Chinese Yuan invaders, when an elephant suddenly got bogged down in a marsh, where Quynh Phu is today. Soldiers and villagers threw bricks and rocks into the mud so the elephant might find a secure footing and scramble out. Alas, the elephant could not be saved and died in the marsh. But locals there believe that phao dat were henceforth made in commemoration of the valiant elephant.

Others say that the activity was first started by people in the Red River Delta carrying earth and embanking dykes to prevent floods in days of yore. A plausible location but still there is no story that convincingly captures that ‘eureka’ moment. A spinning clay disc that could explode on impact certainly would attract a military man’s attention.

Perhaps that’s why in Hai Duong province’s Ninh Giang district, phao dat making is said to have been around since the time of the Trung Sisters (Hai Ba Trung). According to people from Ninh Giang, the sisters, who led a successful rebel attack against the Chinese oppressors in 39AD, used something that resembled phao dat to create a diversion in struggles against Chinese invaders.

A phao dat, which literally means ‘earthy bang’, looks like a tray made out of clay. It is oval in shape with a flat bottom, a raised rim and a fried egg-like bubble in the centre.

“How loudly the phao dat is depends on many factors – the quality of clay, how carefully the rim is made, how flat the bottom is. Everything must be just right,” says Huu Ngan from Ninh Giang. “But what is the most important is the technique of throwing the phao dat on the ground. You must carefully calculate the height from your hands to the ground. If the phao dat is too big or the clay is too soft, the rim might not break. If the clay is not soft enough, the rim will be broken into lots of pieces.”

It will only ‘pop’ or explode if the whole rim lands on the ground at the same time. On impact the rim will snap off from the rest of the clay – it squirms up like a long, petrified snake – while a hole will appear in the centre of the dish (the bigger the hole, the louder the pop). An umpire will measure the broken rim. The person with the longest broken-rim (which must be in one piece) will be declared the winner. Though in certain localities, the umpire measures the hole to decide on the winner.

Phao dat competitions are often featured in traditional festivals held in honour of cultural events or historical heroes, for example, the Lang Temple festival held in honour of Do Do, a famous Buddhist monk during the Ly dynasty (1010-1225AD), in Thai Binh’s Vu Thu district. The 120-year-old Do Do, who was born in 1042, lived through five reigns of Ly kings.

For the phao dat competition the villagers are split up into different groups according to age. After some rituals are made inside the temple, an umpire will strike a drum to announce the start of the competition. Each participant receives some clay and will rush to make a phao dat (kids will make smaller ones in groups). After tossing the phao dat in the air, the individuals or teams with smaller holes or shorter rims must compensate the others with clay. This way eventually some groups run out of clay and therefore lose.

It is believed by some historians that farming Viet tribes believed the ‘bang’ created by phao dat represented a clap of thunder. The bigger the bang, the more favourable the weather would be and therefore the better the crops would be in the year ahead.

Sadly, today traditional games such as phao dat making struggle to compete for kids attention with so many exciting online computer games readily available. Festival goers must do their best to keep this highly entertaining, if somewhat frivolous, pastime alive.

VietNamNet/Timeout