The festival of pounding green rice of the ethnic group

Tay people's concept of the Com pounding festival

The Tay ethnic group's rice pounding festival was born and exists closely with the tradition of wet rice cultivation. The Tay people believe that all things have a spirit, each type of plant has a god residing in it, especially the rice plant. The "rice god" is clearly present in the religious life of the people, and is respected and revered by the people.

The rice pounding festival has become an indispensable need after each rice harvest season, deeply imprinted in the traditional culture of the community, a vivid way to express the meaning of gratitude to heaven and earth, gods, rice gods, land, ancestors who have brought the village a bountiful harvest, bringing prosperity and happiness to each family. This is the deep origin, the core of the traditional rice pounding festival of the Tay people.

Tay people in Thanh Tuong commune (Na Hang) re-enact the rice pounding festival.

The Tay ethnic group's rice pounding festival is considered a ritual to close a year of plowing and planting. This is a festival to thank heaven, earth, gods, "rice gods", Mother Moon and ancestors of the clans, who have blessed the villagers with a bountiful harvest, and is also a festival to celebrate the new rice season in October, the moon festival (Hoi Hai).

Currently, in Tuyen Quang province, there are still some localities that organize the Com pounding festival, mainly concentrated in the communes of Con Lon, Yen Hoa, Thuong Nong, Thuong Giap, Na Hang district; Trung Ha, Chiem Hoa district. The Com pounding festival is usually held in the 8th and 9th lunar months every year. The festival is not specifically held on any day, but is held by Then masters based on a good day.

Bold Tay culture

According to tradition, the ceremony is performed the previous afternoon. The shaman prepares a tray of offerings including chicken, sticky rice, votive paper money, wine, and water to ask permission from the local gods and spirits to allow the villagers to organize the Com Pounding Festival. The villagers perform the ritual of welcoming the rice god from the fields to the altar. The shaman lights incense and sincerely prays to the rice god for the villagers to respectfully welcome the rice god to attend the ceremony.

After the shaman's prayer, the boys and girls go down to the fields to choose and cut large, beautiful, firm rice stalks, tie them into bunches, bring them back to the village and place them on the altar. After bringing the rice god back, the villagers are allowed to go down to the fields to cut sticky rice and bring it back to process into green rice flakes to serve the festival.

Winnow the husks to get the green rice.

In addition to the ritual of welcoming the rice god, the Tay people's rice pounding festival also includes the ritual of welcoming the Moon Mother and 12 fairies. When the moon appears in the sky, the shaman and his assistants prepare offerings to the gods and the Moon Mother and 12 fairies. According to the Tay people's belief, after the shaman's prayer, the Moon Mother and 12 fairies will descend to earth to attend the festival.

At the altar, the shaman performed the ceremony of offering wine and freshly pounded green rice, and the shaman, representing the people of all ethnic groups, expressed gratitude to heaven, earth, and the gods for blessing and protecting the people with good crops, full granaries and floors of rice, and thriving livestock.

The festival part is the rice pounding competition of the teams from the participating villages.

Comrade Nguyen Van Hoa - Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism said: In recent years, the rice pounding festival has been restored in some localities in Tuyen Quang province. However, some rituals in the ceremony have not been maintained, the number of shamans to practice the rituals in the Tay ethnic group's rice pounding festival is not much, the heritage is in danger of being lost.

Therefore, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism recently restored the rice pounding festival of the Tay ethnic group in Thanh Tuong commune, Na Hang district to raise social awareness of preserving the traditional cultural heritage values ​​of the nation and has received a strong response from the people.

Thanh Phuc (Tuyen Quang Newspaper)

Source: https://baophutho.vn/le-hoi-gia-com-cua-dan-toc-226405.htm