A fishing racket in the life of the Co Tu people

Since ancient times, the Co Tu ethnic people in the mountainous region of Quang Nam know how to accumulate a lot of experience in farming, breeding, gathering, hunting wild animals … In particular, the Co Tu people are very good at knitting fishing gears. including a racket to fish in rivers, streams and streams while leisurely, to earn more food, improve family meals and serve the village’s traditional festivals.

The Co Tu woman prepares for a fishing trip with a racket. Photo: Nguyen Van Son Elder of Co Tu Colau Blao village (77 years old), currently living in Voong village, Tr’Hy commune, Tay Giang district, said: In the area where Co Tu people live, there is a plentiful source of raw materials from mountains and forests such as rattan, bamboo, bamboo, giant umbrella and vines, … grow wild. This is a condition for Co Tu people to develop craft knitting, including net knitting, racking to catch fish, to serve the daily needs as well as transport, hunting and gathering from the sky. course. The Co Tu people call the fish racket to be cracked. To have a fishing racket (zơ rift), upland Co Tu people (Co Tu đriu) of the communes: Cho Chum, Cha Val, Ztailh (Nam Giang district) and communes: Ch’Om, Ga Ry, A Xan , Tr’Hy (Tay Giang district) exploited the forest from upland seaweed trees. The upland tree grows wild, has a small, flexible stem, is 1-1.5m high, and has a diameter of about 0.5cm. Trees grow in bushes, each bush has about 100 trees, if well cared for, the tree can be maintained for a long time, because after cutting old trees, the young trees will grow again. The bark of the tree has 2 layers: the outermost layer is greenish gray, the second layer consists of small fibers and is used for the fibers. The Co Tu women cut down the bhow tree and used a knife to remove the outer shell, the silk shell left behind to get the fibers. The fibers of the upland plant are soaked in the stream for about a week, then picked up and dried for spinning. Narrow yarn is very useful in fishing rackets. As for the Co Tu people in the lowland (Co Tu Phuong), belonging to the communes: Zơ Ngay, Song Kon, Mā Cooih, Ta Lu, Za Hung … (Dong Giang district) often used the leaves of the pineapple tree to get the thread to weave the net. making fishing lines, knitting rackets to catch fish … Wanting to knit a racket, Co Tu women often go to the fields, cut the pineapple leaves, dry them, then with a razor the outer layer on both sides of the leaves is left. white silk fibers again, then wear them to dry. Accordingly, the way of spinning these two fibers is also simple. The Co Tu woman took the separated small fibers and put them into the calf and then squeezed her hand into larger strands with her hand. How much se is wrapped in bundles to save knitting gradually. During leisure time, in addition to weaving, Co Tu women in the mountainous region of Quang Nam also often knit a net to catch fish. Co Tu women often go fishing together to catch fish with a net during the day or on a moonlit night in large numbers. Each group of a few women divided the river, stream, and slot to stir, making the water cloudy, the fish stayed in the niches, caves, and found the cave running out. Women only need to soak the racket to prepare the fish to enter itself. To catch more fish, a woman with one handle moves the racket to match the water level. Then, the stream of racquets slowly glides over the water. The job seems simple, but the way of catching fish with a racket is quite effective for the women of Co Tu in the mountainous region of Quang Nam, helping them to find more food sources to improve their daily meals. It is worth mentioning, the Co Tu people do not rampant fishing and destroy aquatic species. In order to protect aquatic resources, except in cases where the village has festivals and needs fish to entertain guests, the village will allow it, but must comply with the regulations, so the way of catching fish with a net or a net of the Co Tu show their humanity and sense of the environment. The Co Tu people only catch large fish to eat them, not small fish to keep them growing. When exploiting fish is not enough to eat, Co Tu people often preserve fish by salt impregnation and put the caught fish in giant umbrellas, bamboo tubes to reserve food in the season and serve the festival. village traditions. Today, although there are many convenient and readily available industrial products, the living environment of the Co Tu people in Quang Nam has also changed many times, but the items are made from the bark of the hilly tree, the leaves of the pineapple tree for fiber. nets, fishing ropes, and fishing rackets still exist in the Co Tu people’s life. I think that the retention and dissemination of knowledge and experience in fishing for the Co Tu young generation is necessary and can build it into a cultural identity of the Co Tu people in the region. Truong Son.