As the leader of the Ba Na artisans' group, Mr. Dinh Moi, currently working at the Cultural Information and Sports Center of K'Bang district, said that the wedding ceremony is an important event for the Ba Na people, witnessed and recognized by the whole community, and important people in the village and family.
Mr. Dinh Moi said that when Ba Na boys and girls reach the age of getting to know each other, they will meet, get to know each other and get the approval of the matchmaker. When the couple wants to live together, the matchmaker will meet with the matchmaker, the village elder and both families to see if they are old enough, see if the two children have been together for a long time, and ask for permission from both families to live together.
Once the two families have agreed, the matchmaker and both sides will check to see if the two sides are related by blood or kinship, and will organize the wedding at the bride's or groom's house first. For couples who get married in the same village, they usually get married at the bride's house first, live for about 2-3 years at the bride's house, when they have children, they will move to the groom's house the following year, then move back to the bride's house... Moving back and forth like that for a few years, until the couple is able to build their own house, and then they can move out. Dinh Moi said that the reason for rotating between the two sides like this is to express gratitude to the parents of both sides who gave birth to them and raised them to adulthood as they are today. The Ba Na people do not care about being rich or poor, they just need to find someone who is diligent, healthy and honest. The Ba Na people also maintain a monogamous marriage system.
When the wedding date is set, the whole village will prepare together from early morning. In addition to rice wine, pig, chicken, it is necessary to have a pair of scarves, a roll of thread... for the couple to exchange on the wedding day. Important gifts in the wedding ceremony include 2 skewers of pork and pig liver, 2 traditional scarves of the 2 families hung on 2 wooden knives. According to ancient beliefs, all conflicts between the two people must be resolved before the wedding ceremony. If there are still conflicts during the wedding ceremony, the girl must hang herself with that scarf, the boy must stab himself with a knife.
The sacred objects are hung by the matchmaker on the gưng pole in the middle of the communal house. This is a sacred pole, usually placed in the middle of the communal house, which is the common place of worship of the village or the family (if placed in the house). The couple will exchange bracelets, and once they have received each other's bracelets, they will not be allowed to have any other love relationship. The matchmaker reads an oath that if the boy leaves the girl or vice versa, he will have to pay a buffalo, a hundred kilograms of pig and 50 jars of wine.
When the groom arrives at the bride's house, the bride's family will prepare a hoe with a candle on it. The groom will step over it first, the bride will step over it later, using her foot to extinguish the candle, thus marking the two of them as husband and wife. One person will spread out a new mat for the couple to sit on to perform the ceremony.
The matchmaker read an oath that if the boy left the girl or vice versa, he would have to pay a buffalo, a hundred kilograms of pig and 50 jars of wine.
After the couple exchanged rings and officially became husband and wife, the villagers drank wine, ate meat, and danced together from afternoon to night to celebrate and bless the new couple.
The special thing about the Ba Na wedding ceremony is that everyone will carry candles during the procession from the house to the communal house and from the communal house to the bride’s house. The candles are made of beeswax and are prepared by the host. Everyone must try to keep the candle burning throughout the journey to pray for the bride and groom to live together until they are old and gray.
The special thing about the wedding ceremony is that on the wedding night, the bride and groom are not allowed to sleep but stay awake together to keep their candles burning all night. Whoever falls asleep first is considered to have a short life. The newlyweds only go to bed when the rooster crows in the morning. Staying awake together all night symbolizes their companionship until the end of their lives.
The unique and interesting features of the Ba Na wedding reenactment attracted a large number of tourists at the Vietnam National Village for Ethnic Culture and Tourism. After the wedding ceremony, many tourists participated in the xoang dance, tried the rice wine, and had fun with the artists.
Source: https://nhandan.vn/doc-dao-le-cuoi-nguoi-ba-na-post685868.html
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