Ha Tay commune (Chu Pah district, Gia Lai) – home to the largest traditional communal house in the Central Highlands – still preserves many cultural beauties and identities of local people.
When Coming here, visitors can also be immersed in the sound of gongs and gongs. Especially the stilt walking performances of teenagers every afternoon.
Under the communal roof of Kon Mah village (Ha Tay commune) images of teenagers Ba Na practices and walks on stilts, attracting us to follow.
In this village, Mr. Tham is the best stilt walker. He participated in the provincial team participating in 4 competitions sports ethnic minorities nationwide and won 7 gold medals in stilt walking. He is also the one who trains children in the village to play this game.
“English Ba Na calls stilts xing bones. In the past, people in my village went to work in the fields and were afraid of snake bites, so they walked on stilts to avoid them. That’s why the Ba Na people here know how to walk on stilts and walk very well. Later, the fields were cleared and the roads became clear, and few people used stilts to go to the fields. But young people and children in the village still wear stilts to practice sports for entertainment,” Mr. Tham said.
The best stilt player in the village is now nearly 30 years old. He always wants to preserve and promote the stilt sport in the spiritual life of his people.
This discipline helps to train health has just trained ingenuity in building a spirit of solidarity in the community. I want to train a team of young people who are good at walking on stilts so that our village’s youth have the opportunity to compete in competitions to introduce their national identity,” Mr. Tham confided
Night (21 years old) is one of Mr. Tham’s “true disciples. Night and his friends in Kon Mah village were taught by him both the technique of walking on stilts and how to make sturdy stilts from a young age.
Night confided: “Watching Mr. Tham walk well on stilts and win many medals in big competitions, I’ve always admired him. I expressed my desire to learn and received enthusiastic guidance from the teacher.
From the wobbly steps of walking on stilts, Diem has now become a famous stilt athlete in Gia Lai province. Although he has only participated in stilt competition for the past few years, Night has already “pocketed” 8 gold medals out of 11 medals of all kinds.
Most recently in the Week Wild sunflowers in Chu Dang Ya volcanic area (Chu Pah district) in November 2022 The night won the gold medal.
Thanks to those who “keep the fire” like Mr. Tham and Night, the children of Kon Mah village all know how to walk on stilts. The village has a professional stilt walking team that often participates in district-level, provincial and national tournaments every year.
Talking with reporter Dan Tri Mr. Bien – Chairman of the Commune People’s Committee Ha Tay – said: “In the past, people often used stilts to go to the fields or pass neighbors’ houses during heavy rains and floods.
Stilt walking has become a lifelong skill not only in Kon Mah village but in many villages in the commune.
The locality always encourages young people in the commune to practice hard and build a stilt team to perform and participate in sports competitions at all levels.” .
