Water Puppets, Rice, and Village Charm

About a thousand years ago, villages along the Red River in northern Viet Nam developed a special kind of puppetry where they use the water for the puppets to interact.  We had the chance to walk through the lovely little village of Yen Duc, in the middle of a lush green rice paddy.  Not only did we get to see a traditional puppet show put on by the villagers, but we also got to learn about how rice is traditionally processed.  The puppet show was quaint--farmers trying to protect ducks against a wily fox, dragons bringing good luck, the cycles of rice planting and harvesting, etc.  The village was quaint too, with palm lined canals and gated courtyards on the charming houses, and pumpkin, squash, taro, and spinach growing along the water.  We met a woman who was harvesting snails in the murky green water.  Everyone smiled and said hello.  And we learned a lot about how rice is milled, mashed and then sifted by hand into finer and finer mesh baskets. 

The village:

The puppet show:

The rice: