Many people still remember that the game required three or four people or more, the more the merrier. One person was designated as the "Doctor". One person was the head of the snake, the rest were the body and tail of the snake. The snake was formed by the young people lining up, the one behind them hugging the waist or holding the shirt of the one in front, moving rhythmically like a gliding snake.
The playing area is the yard, as wide and flat as possible, so that one can run and catch each other. When everyone is quiet and hears the shout “Let’s begin”, the Doctor stands in the middle of the yard, and the snake-man moves around in a circle. The children follow each other in a row, singing in unison:
"Dragon snake up to the clouds
There is a shaking tree.
Ask the doctor
Home or not?
When this sentence ends, the snake's head must turn back to face the Doctor. First, the Doctor will answer: "No house." The snake will circle around and sing again, then ask: "Doctor, do you have a house?". The second time, the Doctor will say: "No house." The snake will circle around and sing again, then ask: "Doctor, do you have a house?". The third time, the Doctor will say: "Yes house."
Then there is a short dialogue between the Doctor and the snake: Where are you going?/Are you going to buy medicine/Buy medicine for whom?/Buy medicine for yourself/How old are you?/I'm one year old/The medicine is not good/I'm two years old/The medicine is not good/I'm three years old... The medicine is so good. Then comes "Please give me the head/The bones are all rough/Please give me the middle/The blood and gore/Please give me the tail/You can chase me away as you please."
Having finished speaking, the Doctor tried to run around behind and grab the snake's tail while the snake's head tried to stretch out its arms to block it and the snake's body twisted and tried to escape the Doctor... The game ended: The Doctor had caught the snake's tail or the wriggling snake had "broken" into pieces... That was also the moment when the children pushed each other to run, screamed, sometimes fell down, and even broke their sandals, which was extremely funny. It was when not only did everyone jostle and laugh, but also the Moon Lady from the faraway moon palace also shone brightly, peeking in...
II.
When I was a child, of course I only knew how to play for fun, even when I was tired I was still happy because I had a pregnant friend. But I didn’t understand and didn’t need to understand why it was called “Dragon Snake”, what was a dragon and a snake? And why was it called “Dragon Snake Up to the Clouds”?
Then came the year of the Snake, the year of the Snake, newspapers and books talked a lot, very strongly about things that seemed old, that everyone seemed to know, but in fact...
It is a long story from the primitive history of the Vietnamese people, the residents of the river region who every day, every hour had to struggle with natural disasters and wars to protect and build the country, preserve and develop the race.
The published research document of Linguist Nguyen Tai Can written in 2000 as well as our recent conversation (2024) with Folklore Researcher Nguyen Hung Vy both confirmed: Since prehistoric times, the words Dragon and Snake may have had the same origin. Accordingly, in the legend of Lac Long Quan and Au Co, Lac Long Quan resembled a dragon but was a snake-shaped dragon. Ancient Vietnamese people thought of Dragons as Snakes, a variation compared to Northern people who considered dragons as four-legged beasts. The image of Lac Long Quan is therefore a derivative of the snake, taking Au Co, who resembled a bird, and laying eggs, which is a custom of snakes.
The art world as well as many interested people must know the opinion of painter Nguyen Do Cung from 1970 that: The Dragon of the Ly Dynasty is different from the Chinese Dragon, it has the shape of a Snake, with many curves. This type of dragon must have its own history, it may have appeared much before the Ly Dynasty... Now we call it a Dragon, but in the past it was not necessarily called a Dragon, but it could be a type of "dragon snake", our children often have the game "dragon snake"...
So we can imagine the story we are talking about in these days of Spring At Ty 2025. Obviously, in folk songs, the image of a snake familiar to childhood is the nursery rhyme in the game "Dragon Snake", which is considered by researchers to be ancient, possibly dating back to the Ly Tran Dynasty. "Dragon Snake Up to the Clouds" is a nursery rhyme that shows the outstanding imagination of the people, from a game of children chasing each other, cheering, associated with the winding image of a dragon, a snake to fly up, sublimating to beautify daily life.
Also to remember that, besides worshiping the sacred snake god, Vietnamese people also know how to normalize and bring to life dragons and snakes through nursery rhymes and traditional games. That is the diversity and richness in the cultural and spiritual life of Vietnamese people, so that the more we look into the past and into tradition, the more proud and admiring we are of the country and people with a thousand years of civilization.
(Posted on the special edition of Labor Weekend Spring At Ty)
