The story of the Tung Con Festival in the past

No one knows when the Tung Con Festival of some ethnic groups Tay, Nung, Thai, Giay... in the mountains began; the elders only know that it has existed since ancient times and say: Tung Con Festival or Xuong Dong Festival is one; it is correct to say it is a festival, because that day it must be organized in 2 parts: the ceremony part and the festival part. In the past, the organization of the festival was directed by the village dignitaries, at that time the village was as large as several villages now but the number of households was less than 100. Nowadays, the organization of the festival in some places is done on a commune-wide scale, but the way of organization in some places is much simpler than in the past.

People of Cao Banh village, Phuong Thien commune ( Ha Giang city) enjoy the Tung Con festival.

In the past, at the beginning of December every year, village leaders often held a year-end summary, discussed the direction and tasks for the new year, and agreed to carefully organize the Tung Con Festival to bring joy to the people. After December 23, the village leadership met to invite representatives of the Party cell, mass organizations, militia and medical forces to agree to establish the festival organizing committee; plan the competitions, purchase materials, and reward levels for each competition. The rewards for tossing cons are usually red sheep blankets, aluminum pots, and towels, while the rewards for folk games are money and support for general service work. The Youth Union is assigned to prepare the field, usually borrowing a one-crop rice field from a household in the central area; using a mai tree as a pole and making 2 long poles with forks, making a crescent moon (symbolizing the female mascot). The pole must be of the correct height and diameter, and the inner rings must be covered with colored paper to ensure they look nice and do not come off in light rain. The ties must be turned down so that the conch is not stuck on top of the pole or caught in the ties. A trellis must be made to place the offering tray, and palm leaves must be spread horizontally to place the light festival tray. The teams must be assigned to make the conch and organize the conch, tug of war, stilts, crossbow shooting, etc. with referees in charge of the events. Women must estimate the number of conch (representing the mascot of the son) and must use fine sand to stuff the conch, the fabric used to sew the conch must be strong, tightly sewn so as not to come loose, the string must be strong and not broken and half the length of an adult's arm with green and red tassels, embroidered with the name of the maker. When attending the festival, they must wear traditional costumes. The assigned hamlets must prepare a tray of offerings at the place where the con is thrown, including a boiled chicken, several Chung cakes and other homemade cakes, wine, tea, lamps, incense, peach branches, and home-grown fruits. Placed next to the offering tray are also a handful of rice, a handful of corn kernels, a handful of cotton seeds, and some con. Other hamlets assign each group of 6 households to prepare a light celebration meal including a bottle of wine, cakes, and cooked food; the militia force is responsible for security and order; the Organizing Committee informs the people about the date, time, and location of the festival, supervises general direction, and invites a shaman to perform the ceremony...

At exactly 9:00 a.m., the festival began. When the assigned departments and the people were all present, the leader had to stand on a high platform to observe the whole scene, announce the festival program with a portable loudspeaker, introduce the delegates, welcome the villagers and other villages and communes who came to join in the fun; announce the competitions and specific awards for each event... For convenient information, there was always a contact person to grasp the specific situation of each task, report to the leader on the loudspeaker to remind the general understanding. When the offering trays were placed on the scaffold near the burial place of the remaining poles, the light festival trays were arranged in a long row on mats and palm leaves. The representative of the Organizing Committee invited the shaman to worship the forest first, then worship at the place where the remaining poles were thrown: Pray for a new year of good health for everyone in the village, free from natural disasters and epidemics; hope that the gods will make the weather favorable and the crops bountiful. After the worship, the shaman scattered the seeds and then held a light party, the representatives of the households had a chance to eat the first meal of the spring together, toasted each other happily but did not drink too much. After the party, the shaman ordered the cone pole to be erected, a large crowd was needed to do it; the pole had to be erected vertically, the two sides of the moon had to face the North and South, so that the sunlight would not affect the competing sides. The leader instructed the young people to stand on two sides, one side for men, one side for women with an equal number of people, waiting for the competition order, the shaman handed the cone to the two teams and signaled the order to throw the cone first, then the other age groups entered the field to throw the cone; people from other villages and communes were also allowed to participate. During the competition, everyone could come up with a loudspeaker to sing Then, Coi or sing songs praising the Party, Uncle Ho, celebrating Spring, celebrating the homeland and country; to fill the empty time, the Organizing Committee could borrow a radio to play on the loudspeaker. When someone successfully throws the moon ball through the hoop, they must announce the name and address of the person who threw it, the person who caught it, and the owner of the moon ball. After someone successfully throws the moon ball through the hoop for the first time, the Women's Union will bring out all the spare moon balls to serve, encourage everyone to try to win the Second Prize and the Encouragement Prize, creating a new exciting atmosphere.

After the competitions ended, the Organizing Committee announced the award ceremony, and commended the service departments for completing their assigned tasks well; wished the athletes luck and all the people a healthy and happy new year. Invited the service departments and the youth union to stay together to lower the poles, clean up the yard and return the yard to the village or the fields to the owners. After the festival, all the spoiled or good fruit must be thrown into the forest; only the good fruit can be brought back to soak in mud and reused next year. The end of the festival is also the time when the Spring joy ends, people enter the new season, in a joyful and excited atmosphere.

Dinh Minh Tung/Ha Giang Newspaper

Source: https://baophutho.vn/chuyen-to-chuc-le-hoi-tung-con-ngay-xua-227499.htm