Cultural and spiritual beauty of San Diu people

In Van Don district, the San Diu people have the second largest population after the Kinh people and still preserve many beautiful and unique features of beliefs and spiritual culture in life.

The San Diu people in Van Don have nearly 5,000 people, mainly concentrated in Binh Dan, Doan Ket and scattered in some other communes. The San Diu community in Van Don still preserves many unique cultural features. Among them, the belief culture is full of colors, most typical and also has regional characteristics.

The custom of worship is one of the beliefs that the San Diu community in Van Don values. The custom of worshipping the tutelary god of the San Diu people has existed since ancient times and is still maintained today. This custom always guides people towards the values of truth, goodness, and beauty, educating good traditions in the community. In particular, the tutelary god worshiped by the villages is usually the local god. Depending on the place, this god is called by different names and is associated with the title of great king.

According to the beliefs of the people, the local god is the god who protects people and livestock, controls wild animals from destroying crops, and always protects people's lives. Each village sets aside a large, open area of land to build a communal house to worship the local god. This building usually has simple architecture and worshiping objects, with an open front.

The San Diu people are one of the ethnic groups with extremely rich and diverse cultural and religious activities. With a lively worldview, this ethnic group believes in the theory of "all things have animism", the three religions have the same origin (Confucianism - Buddhism - Taoism)... In the beliefs of the San Diu people, the system of spiritual beliefs is Taoism and Buddhism with the supreme Saints - Gods - Buddhas being the Three Purities and the Three Jewels.

The Dai Phan Festival (Binh Dan Commune) of the San Diu people in Van Don is still preserved today. Photo: Cong Thanh

In addition to ancestor worship, the San Diu people also worship the Door God (Mon sin), the Land God (Thu sin), the Kitchen God (Chao kun), and the Ancestor (Say hu)... These are the gods who protect safety and help family members stay healthy and safe. Families with small children or people in labor also have an altar for the midwife, placed right in the mother's room, to protect and help the children grow up quickly. Those who work as priests worship Buddha Quan The Am, worship Tam Thanh and worship To Su. The Buddha altar and Tam Thanh altar are placed in separate places but must be higher than the ancestor altar, the Ancestor altar is placed at the same level as the ancestor altar.

The biggest festival of the San Diu people is the Dai Phan festival. This is a system of rituals and festivals with different purposes such as: the ceremony of building the royal altar, the five-music tower, the flag-entering ceremony, the afternoon grass-cutting ceremony, the five great heavenly kings running the altar, the sword-climbing ceremony, the coming-of-age ceremony, the ceremony of releasing the wronged souls, and the singing of the soong co...

The festival is held for 2-7 days with the presence of high-level shamans, along with the participation of many people from different regions. Dai Phan festival is not only a purely religious activity but also a "sedative" for the people. In addition to Dai Phan festival, San Diu people also have many other festivals such as the upper field festival, the lower field festival, the first festival of the year to pray for a good harvest, the end of the year festival, the festival at the communal house...

In addition, as agricultural residents, the San Diu ethnic group often make sincere offerings to report and thank the gods and ancestors for blessing the family with prosperity, favorable weather, and bountiful crops. They also have many beautiful forms of entertainment such as: folk songs, folk songs, proverbs, and folk games.

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