Thach Xa Village is located in Thach That District, Hanoi. The village has been well-known as the cradle of making bamboo dragonflies as a villager started creating the toy nearly 20 years ago. The craft has spread throughout the area and even to other provinces across Vietnam. Nguyen Thi Xoan’s family is one among households following the craft.
In order to create qualified bamboo dragonflies, choosing material is very important. The bamboo used to make dragonflies grows in forests. It must not be too young or too old to ensure that dragonflies are hard enough.
A bamboo dragonfly is small but is processed through various steps. Each and every step requires skillfulness, patience and techniques. The most important thing is how to make dragonflies balanced and able to perch atop of anything. In order to do so, Xoan said that the artisan has to pay attention to every detail and has a secret of creating a perfect ratio between different parts of a dragonfly.
Besides its balance, a bamboo dragonfly also needs to have beautiful appearance with smooth surface and colourful patterns. Nowadays, children have many choices among a variety of toys with numerous designs and colours.
However, among them, bamboo dragonfly is a Vietnamese toy, which was created by Vietnamese people. It is not simply a type of toys but imprints the image of Vietnam’s countryside. It brings back memories of childhood when children were playing around with friends at noon or sunset, catching dragonflies on rice fields and laughing together.
