With a history of nearly 100 years, Lak district is associated with many cultural and historical vestiges of the M'nong and Ede ethnic groups... this land has many unique cultures, many customs and good traditional cultural values. In particular, the water wharf worship rituals of each ethnic group living in the locality are also unique cultural beauties that need to be preserved and conserved.
A typical example is the water-side ceremony (lake worship) of the Ede people in Dham I village (Dak Nue commune). This ceremony is usually held at the beginning of the new year to thank the gods for a year of blessing the village with natural food sources, clean water, good crops, and a happy and prosperous life. At the same time, they pray for the gods to grant the villagers favorable weather, bountiful crops, good health, prosperity, and a happy life in the new year. This is also an opportunity for people to work together to take care of and clean the waterside and keep the water source clean to serve the daily needs of the community.
Re-enactment of the water wharf worship ceremony of the M'nong R'lam people in Jun village (Lien Son town).
As for the M'nong R'lam people in Jun village (Lien Son town) on the shore of Lak lake, they often use dugout canoes as a means of transportation to farm, fish or go to other villages, so they believe that the lake docks - where the dugout canoes are moored - are sacred places, with water gods and mountain gods. Therefore, the water dock (lake dock) worship ceremony is held by the people here every 2-3 years to show gratitude to the gods who control the means of transportation, daily life and production on the lake.
Meanwhile, the M'nong Gar people (Pai Ar hamlet, Dak Phoi commune) hold a ceremony to worship the Dak Hoa water wharf, because in the past, when the ancestors of the M'nong Gar people traveled everywhere to find land to settle down, they found a source of clean water at the Dak Hoa wharf and devoted themselves to preserving it. Today, the M'nong Gar people still take water from this wharf to make rice wine and worship Yang. Their ceremony will be performed by the owner of the wharf to thank the water god for giving them clean water for their lives and for the people to be healthy and not get sick. At the same time, they invite the gods to come down to celebrate, bless the owner of the wharf and the village.
With the unique features of this ritual, in recent years, Lak district has restored the water wharf worshiping ceremonies of the M'nong Gar people at Dak Hoa wharf (Pai Ar village, Dak Phoi commune); of the M'nong Rlam people at Jun village (Lien Son town) and the water wharf worshiping ceremonies of the Ede people at Dham II village (Dak Nue commune) and Phok village (Nam Ka commune). These are remarkable efforts of the locality in preserving the traditional cultural beauty of ethnic groups.
However, there are still many opinions that the restored rituals no longer have their original "soul", according to Mr. Y Luyet Enuol, Head of Jun village (Lien Son town), due to the change in production methods and lifestyle, some worship rituals have been omitted. Specifically, most of the people have sold their precious gongs, precious jars, kpans... to buy production and living tools, so the offerings used in the rituals are no longer complete and must be replaced by modern cups and plates. In addition, the younger generation is no longer interested in or knowledgeable about the traditional culture of the nation; meanwhile, most of the skilled artisans are old and weak or have passed away... causing the worship ceremonies to not be organized properly and regularly.
Locals and tourists dance to the sound of gongs and drums at the Dak Hoa Wharf Worship Ceremony (Pai Ar village, Dak Phoi commune, Lak district)
Therefore, to preserve and promote the unique cultural features of this ritual, Mr. Y Luyet believes that there should be a support system to encourage and motivate artisans to pass on the correct ritual practices to the next generation. At the same time, it is necessary to incorporate these rituals into tourism activities, thereby creating unique cultural tourism products, spreading the cultural beauty of ethnic groups to tourists, and creating economic value, thereby attracting the attention of the younger generation.
Sharing the same view, as a young person working in community tourism in Yang Tao commune, Lak district, Dak Lak province, Mr. Y Sol Sruk said: "When associating the water wharf worship ceremony with community tourism, these cultural subjects when participating in the performance will have a source of income, thereby, they will have the responsibility to preserve and conserve cultural beauty to better promote to tourists. Along with that, when the locality organizes classes, propagates the meaning and value in the beliefs of the nation, the worship song... will also attract more young people to participate".
Thereby, it can be affirmed that if festivals and rituals are restored in association with tourism development, it will contribute to motivating and promoting the role of prestigious people, village elders, artisans with knowledge of culture and the community participating in the festival as well as propagating and raising awareness of ethnic communities, especially the young generation, in preserving and promoting the fine traditional cultural identity of the nation in association with local tourism development./.
Source: https://toquoc.vn/bao-ton-va-phat-huy-gia-tri-van-hoa-le-cung-ben-nuoc-huyen-lak-20240930161032466.htm
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