View source for Tò he

{{Short description|Traditional Vietnamese toy}}{{Italic title|reason=[[:Category:Vietnamese words and phrases]]}}
[[File:Tò he.JPG|thumb|''Tò he'']]
[[File:Making a "tò he".JPG|thumb|A ''tò he'' craftsman at work]]
[[File:To he.JPG|thumb|right|250px|A ''tò he'' craftsman with children.]]
'''''Tò he''''' (''toy figurine'') or '''con giống bột''' is a traditional toy for children in [[Vietnam]] which is made from glutinous [[rice powder]] in form of edible figurine such as animals, flowers or characters in folk stories.<ref>[http://www.vanishingsaigon.com/2010/05 /to-he/ ]</ref> In the past, ''tò he'' was made and sold only on the occasion of festivals, especially the [[Tết Nguyên Đán]] and the [[Tết Trung Thu]] which are the favorite festivals of Vietnamese children. Nowadays, the toy is introduced in almost all traditional festivals and in public places like parks or gardens. As tò he is one of the rare surviving traditional toys of Vietnam, the art of tò he making is considered a cultural ambassador of Vietnam and there are many efforts in order to preserve and develop this traditional art.
==Making==
[[File:Con thổi - Làng gốm Thanh Hà, Hội An, Việt Nam.jpg|thumb|Con thổi, a kind of tò he of [[Hội An]]]]
[[File:Tò he 1.JPG|thumb|A woman is making tò he to sell to tourists]]
To create a ''tò he'' figurine, the artist needs a mixture of glutinous and ordinary [[rice powder]]s, which is easy to knead into different shapes and edible for children, and [[bamboo]] sticks to plant the shaped tò he, as well as their own artistic skill.<ref name=Lecourrier>{{cite news |url=http://lecourrier.vnagency.com.vn/default.asp?xt=xt33&page=newsdetail&newsid=53359 |title=  Millénaire de Thang Long : la vitalité des tò he de Xuân La |date=2009-06-17 |newspaper=Le Courrier du Vietnam  |language=French |author=My Anh}}</ref> Modeled by the hand of the artist, the forms of tò he figurine are drawn from animals, flowers and characters in folk stories such as [[Sun Wukong|Tôn Ngộ Không]], the Monkey King in ''[[Journey to the West]]''. There are seven basic colours of tò he figurines which are green, sea blue, red, purple, yellow, white and black, those colours come from rice powder mixed with [[food dye]]s which are used to replace colours from trees or ashes in order to ensure the edibleness of tò he.<ref name=Vietnamnet0902>{{cite web |url=http://english.vietnamnet.vn/features/2008/09/801689/ |title=The vitality of To he craft village |date=2008-09-02 |publisher=Vietnamnet.vn |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090219120300/http://english.vietnamnet.vn/features/2008/09/801689/ |archive-date=2009-02-19 }}</ref> In the past, tò he was steamed after being kneaded but today the figurines are made directly from preboiled paste so that the craftsman can reduce the time for making one tò he figurine.<ref name=Kendall>{{cite book |title=Vietnam: journeys of body, mind, and spirit |pages=[https://archive.org/details/vietnamjourneyso00nguy/page/98 98&ndash;99] |author=Nguyễn Văn Huy, Laurel Kendall |publisher=University of California Press |year=2003 |isbn=0-520-23872-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/vietnamjourneyso00nguy/page/98 }}</ref> The paste is made from glutinous and ordinary rice powders, it was kneaded with fresh water before dropped in boiling water for one hour and finally dyed with food colour.<ref name=ttvh>{{cite web |url=http://www.thethaovanhoa.vn/285N20080827083648822T0/to-hevan-vung-vang-mot-suc-song.htm |title=Tò he - vẫn vững vàng một sức sống |date=2008-08-27 |publisher=Thethaovanhoa.vn |author=Trung Kiên |language=Vietnamese}}</ref>
[[File:Tò he 2.JPG|thumb|A stall selling tò he]]
The procedure of tò he making requires utmost patience from the craftsman, but almost all tò he makers are men and there is an unwritten law in families of tò he craftsmen that secret in making tò he is only passed from father to sons and daughters-in-law, not to daughters. There are no lesson of tò he making, sons are transmitted the skill from their father solely in watching and self-learning.<ref name=Vietnamnet0902/><ref name=Vietnamnet0705>{{cite web |url=http://english.vietnamnet.vn/lifestyle/2005/05/422527/ |title=Rare children's art goes to US, puts Xuan La on map |date=2005-05-07 |publisher=Vietnamnet.vn |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090430125310/http://english.vietnamnet.vn/lifestyle/2005/05/422527/ |archive-date=2009-04-30 }}</ref> Nevertheless, nowadays tò he making is also taught to the handicapped so that they can live on making tò he and other forms of traditional art.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://english.vietnamnet.vn/features/2008/08/800051/ |title=Centre hands disabled a better future |publisher=Vietnamnet.vn |date=2008-08-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090223002010/http://english.vietnamnet.vn/features/2008/08/800051/ |archive-date=2009-02-23 }}</ref>
[[File:Newone - Tò he.jpg|thumb|[[Vietnamese dragon|Dragon]] tò he]]
==History==
[[File:Con giống bằng đất nung phủ men nâu, thế kỷ XIII-XIV.png|thumb|Con giống with brown glaze, XIII-XIV centuries]]
[[File:To he Vietnam.jpg|thumb|left|250px|A tò he craftsman making an animal figurine besides the [[Temple of Literature, Hanoi]].]]
Traditionally, tò he craftsmen had a compact set of tools so that in one day they could go to several common places such as [[Market (place)|markets]], [[Vietnamese communal temple|communal temple ground]]s and especially local festivals where children often gathered to play or accompany their parents. According to the old generation of tò he craftsmen, the origin of tò he making was dated to the 17th century.<ref name=Vietnamnet0902/> The two most important occasions each year for tò he craftsmen are [[Tết Nguyên Đán]] and [[Tết Trung Thu]] because they are the favorite festivals for Vietnamnese children.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://english.vietnamnet.vn/lifestyle/2008/09/803515/ |title=The Traditional Mid Autumn Festival |date=2008-09-13 |publisher=Vietnamnet.vn |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090103093658/http://english.vietnamnet.vn/lifestyle/2008/09/803515/ |archive-date=2009-01-03 }}</ref>
Nowadays, tò he is made and sold not only during the [[Tết]] holiday and other festivals but also all year round in public place like [[park]]s, [[garden]]s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://english.vietnamnet.vn/lifestyle/2009/01/822125/ |title=Hanoi to have lantern festival for Tet |publisher=Vietnamnet.vn |date=2009-01-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091005020456/http://english.vietnamnet.vn/lifestyle/2009/01/822125/ |archive-date=2009-10-05 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://english.vietnamnet.vn/lifestyle/2009/02/826677/ |title=Buying luck at Vieng Market |publisher=Vietnamnet.vn |date=2009-02-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090501145745/http://english.vietnamnet.vn/lifestyle/2009/02/826677/ |archive-date=2009-05-01 }}</ref> The price for a figurine sold in [[Hanoi]] varies from 3,000 to 5,000 [[VND]].<ref name=Vietnamnet0902/><ref name=ttvh/> There is a village in the countryside of Hanoi where many people earn their living by making and selling tò he, it is Xuân La village which has about 200 tò he craftsmen and almost all villagers from children to adults can make tò he figurine in a very brief period.<ref name=Lecourrier/> Facing the threat from modern toys and other forms of entertainment,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn/showarticle.php?num=01SUN041009 |title=Festivals may be toymakers' swansong |date=2009-10-04 |publisher=[[Vietnam News Agency]]}}</ref> tò he craftsmen have to be more and more creative so that their figurines can appear more lively and closer to the children,<ref name=Vietnamnet0902/> for that reason tò he figurines today can be also modeled after characters from international films and cartoons such as [[Doraemon]], [[Pikachu]] and even [[Sailor Moon (character)|Sailor Moon]] with her very own blond hair.<ref name=Kendall/>
As one of the rare surviving traditional toys in modern time, tò he is considered a cultural ambassador of Vietnam. Some craftsmen are invited to the [[United States]] or [[South Korea]] to perform the art of tò he making.<ref name=Lecourrier/><ref name=Vietnamnet0705/> Another positive sign for the existence of tò he is that the Ministry of Culture and Information of Vietnam has paid more attention in preserving and propagating this traditional art.<ref name=Vietnamnet0902/> A tò he craftsman from [[Thái Bình]] was presented with medal from the Vietnam Folk Literature and Art Association for his effort in preserving the art of tò he making<ref>{{cite web |url=http://english.vietnamnet.vn/lifestyle/2008/12/821078/ |title=Vietnam Folk Literature and Art Awards 2008 presented |date=2008-12-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090104071132/http://english.vietnamnet.vn/lifestyle/2008/12/821078/ |archive-date=2009-01-04 }}</ref> while tò he is frequently introduced in cultural festivals.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://english.vietnamnet.vn/lifestyle/2004/11/347011/ |title=Further details for the Vietnam-Japan Festival |date=2004-11-18 |publisher=Vietnamnet.vn |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071010013414/http://english.vietnamnet.vn/lifestyle/2004/11/347011/ |archive-date=2007-10-10 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://english.vietnamnet.vn/lifestyle/2005/02/376993/ |title=Vietnam to open the first national Ca Tru Festival |date=2005-02-17 |publisher=Vietnamnet.vn |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080527083213/http://english.vietnamnet.vn/lifestyle/2005/02/376993/ |archive-date=2008-05-27 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://english.vietnamnet.vn/lifestyle/200912/HCM-City-welcomes-the-New-Year-with-festivals-886635/ |title=HCM City welcomes the New Year with festivals |date=2009-12-18 |publisher=Vietnamnet.vn |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100117020942/http://english.vietnamnet.vn/lifestyle/200912/HCM-City-welcomes-the-New-Year-with-festivals-886635/ |archive-date=2010-01-17 }}</ref> Tò he is brought to the poor children of the mountainous region in the North of Vietnam who cannot afford to buy toys, they are also given instructions to make simple forms of tò he figurines.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://english.vietnamnet.vn/social/2008/05/785786/ |title=Poor children in Hoa Binh get toys |date=2008-05-30 |publisher=Vietnamnet.vn |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090503063020/http://english.vietnamnet.vn/social/2008/05/785786/ |archive-date=2009-05-03 }}</ref>
==See also==
* [[Amezaiku]]
* [[Sugar people]]
== References ==
{{Reflist|2}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:To He}}
[[Category:Traditional toys]]
[[Category:Culture of Vietnam]]
[[Category:Vietnamese games]]
[[Category:Vietnamese words and phrases]]