Enjoy playing dragon and snake up to the clouds

Since ancient times, when schools had not yet been established, Vietnamese children, especially children in the countryside, knew how to create many games. There were games played in small groups such as: marbles, tops (gù), marbles, shuttlecocks, kite flying, volleyball, stacking buds and flowers, hide-and-seek (hide-and-seek), swimming, chess, hopscotch... There were games suitable for groups such as: releasing leeches and turtles, nu na nu nong, dragon snake up to the clouds, mock battles, tug of war...

There are games that only require action (that is, no words are needed while playing, still fun and attractive). There are games that need words to accompany each movement, such as volleyball. There are also games that need a song so that when the song ends, we know whether the game has ended or not, such as: drop the leech turtle, nu na nu nong, dragon snake up the clouds... Children's songs accompanied by games are later called nursery rhymes. These games are also classified as Vietnamese folk games.

Children's folk games are often not difficult to play, not fussy, complicated, and do not require practice. That is the long-term attraction for children. Many games do not require tools or if they do, they are very simple, easy to make, and easy to find. For example, the game of volleyball only requires a few dozen sticks with a ball of soft clay or a small eggplant. The objects for playing top (gù) are skillfully carved from discarded logs. For playing marbles, the marbles can be made of clay baked in the kitchen until hard or rounded green stones... Coins, pebbles, gac seeds, rubber bands, pieces of paper, threads, sticks, broken basketball rims... can all become playing tools. Therefore, playing is not expensive.

The number of players is also very flexible, you can add or remove a few people and still play. The same goes for the location and time of play, you can play at any time, day or night, especially on moonlit nights. Children can choose to play indoors, in the yard, on the gate, on the dike, on the lawn, in the rice paddy (after all the rice has been pulled out), on the roadside, on the pile, on the hill... It can be seen that all games are fun. Fun because children can play with their feet, hands, eyes, ears, and their whole body can move. They can talk, laugh, shout, sing... For these reasons, the game has no end, never boring. Playing today, playing again tomorrow is still as fun as usual.

Back to the game dragon snake up to the clouds, first of all the name of the game is two animals (dragon and snake) both have the same characteristics of long body, winding very flexible, agile. The formation of the children playing is flexible and agile like a dragon snake when moving. The number of players is not fixed.

Among them were two important people, the doctor and the dragon-head maker. This was a game that involved singing nursery rhymes and responding.

In the nursery rhyme, all the children in the roles of the dragon and snake sang. As for the dialogue, only the two children in the roles of the doctor and the head of the dragon and snake played the roles.

The nursery rhyme goes like this: "Dragon snake up to the clouds/Meeting a shaking tree/Drums and drums/Review of troops". The dialogue consists of the dragon snake asking: "Is the doctor home?". The doctor answers yes or no. If he is home, the doctor asks further:

- Where are the dragons going?

- Go get medicine for the child.

- How old are you?
- I am 1 year old.

- The doctor's medicine is not good.

- I am 2 years old.

- The doctor's medicine is not good...

It went on like that until the dragon snake said: "I'm 10 years old" then the doctor said: "Your medicine is good?". Then the doctor said: "Please give me the head". The dragon snake replied: "The bones are all bad". The doctor continued: "Please give me the middle part". The dragon snake replied: "The blood and gore". The doctor finished: "Please give me the tail". The dragon snake replied: "You can chase me away as much as you want" (or if you can chase me away, you can eat it).

The game was at its climax. The doctor was chasing the tail.

The dragon's head had to spread its arms and twist to prevent the doctor from protecting its tail. The children on the dragon's body had to cling tightly to each other's sides (if anyone let go, it would be a disaster) and at the same time had to move quickly to hide their tails, lest the doctor cut them off. This was a very happy moment. The children were so busy laughing that they couldn't hide their tails in time and were cut off by the doctor.

The next child becomes the dragon's tail and is caught by the doctor again. The game continues. The doctor catches them one by one until they are all gone. The children run, laugh, and talk continuously, tired but happy. This game can last up to 30 minutes depending on how long the dragon is and how quickly the doctor catches the tail.

Dragon Snake Up to the Clouds is a collective game for children. The advantage of this game is that children can play freely, learn to bond with friends and have to be agile and flexible when moving. The game helps children reduce the pressure of studying and improve their collective spirit. This is the benefit of playing.