Toys

Tò he dough figure

A tò he maker only needed a small box, a few lumps of red, yellow, green and black dough, a little comb and a handful of bamboo sticks. Kids crowded round, holding their breath as his fingers rolled, cut and pressed: a lump of yellow became a rooster, a pinch of red was its comb, one stroke of the comb made the tail feathers. The craft is old in Xuân La village (Phú Xuyên, Hà Nội), and its makers travelled to markets, school gates and village festivals.

The dough was rice, so in the old days it really was edible, and plenty of kids treasured theirs for two days before secretly nibbling the tail. The name is said to come from the little whistle once attached, going “tò te tí te”. Most tò he today use industrial food colouring, so play with it rather than eat it.

Do you remember? What was your very first tò he, and how many days did it survive?

💬 Everyone's memories

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