Red Dao people make offerings on the 15th day of the 7th lunar month

For the Red Dao people in Cao Bang, the full moon of the seventh lunar month is the most important festival of the year after the Lunar New Year. The Red Dao people have the custom of worshipping their ancestors and gods to show their respect, hoping that their ancestors will bless their families with prosperity, health and happiness. Before the full moon day, families prepare offerings and make cakes to worship their ancestors and gods.

From the beginning of July, the markets become crowded and bustling, people start preparing ingredients for making cakes, buying trays of food and offerings for their families. Please join Vietnam.vn in the Red Dao people's cake wrapping session to worship the Full Moon Festival in July through the photo series "Red Dao people making cakes to worship the Full Moon Festival in July" by author Hoang Thi Hoan. The ingredients for making cakes include sticky rice, gai leaves, green beans, cane sugar, salt and banana leaves. The types of cakes of the Red Dao people are gai cakes and rom cakes. The photo series was taken by the author in Cao Bang and submitted by the author to the Photo and Video Contest "Happy Vietnam - Happy Vietnam", organized by the Ministry of Information and Communications.

With the concept of "all things have animism" and believing in the existence of the sacred world, the Red Dao people in Cao Bang have the custom of worshiping ancestors and gods to show respect, hoping that their ancestors will bless their families with prosperity, health and happiness.

Before the full moon day, families prepare offerings, make sticky rice cakes and rice cakes to worship their ancestors and gods. On the full moon day, they no longer worship their ancestors but only prepare offerings to invite relatives and neighbors to come over.

Children were assigned to find banana bushes with large, beautiful, and even leaves, pick the leaves, dry them in the sun until they wither, and then tie them into small bundles. Adults went to the forest to find ramie leaves and banana leaves, which are the main ingredients for making gai cakes and rom cakes. The ramie leaves were dried, the veins were stripped off, they were boiled until soft, washed, crushed, and roasted until they were loose.

The rice used to make the cake must be delicious sticky rice, not mixed with regular rice. It must be soaked in water overnight to let the rice grains expand, ground into fine powder, put into a cloth bag and hung up to drain.

When the rice flour is completely dry, mix it with the previously roasted ramie leaf flour, add a little boiled rock sugar water, then pound it until smooth. The steps to make Banh Rom are similar, but somewhat simpler because the glutinous rice flour after being drained will be kneaded smoothly, without adding ramie leaves.

The filling depends on each family's preference, usually cooked green beans, crushed and mixed with sugar or crushed salted roasted peanuts. When wrapping, divide the dough into small equal portions, put the filling in the middle of the dough and knead the dough to cover the filling, sprinkle a layer of sesame on the outside and wrap it with banana leaves.

After wrapping, steam the cake for 1-2 hours. When cooked, the gai cake has a smooth, shiny black color, the sweetness of the rock sugar water mixed with the fragrant, sticky taste of sticky rice and gai leaves. Meanwhile, the rom cake retains the white color of the sticky rice flour, and is fragrant and sticky.

The Red Dao people's worship ceremony is prepared quite elaborately. From early morning, adults wake up early to clean the house, prepare the offering tray before the shaman comes to the house. The worship ceremony is divided into two types: first, is to worship ancestors (ông thái miền) placed on the left side of the altar, on the right side are 3 pairs of gai cakes placed on both sides, in the middle is a boiled rooster. The Red Dao people always put filial piety first, they always believe that ancestors and grandparents always watch over and bless their descendants. Therefore, in the ceremony, the shaman will worship the ancestors first. Next, on the right side is to worship the gods, the creatures, and wandering souls (lồ chây miền), here is a pair of cakes and a bowl of water.

The shaman will pray before the altar, inform the ancestors about what has happened during the year and ask the ancestors and gods to bless their descendants with good health, a prosperous and happy family, favorable weather, good harvests. After the shaman completes the procedures of reporting to the gods and ancestors, inviting them to drink wine, invite them to eat, and burn votive paper so that the gods and ancestors can pay for the expenses, the ceremony will end.

For the Red Dao, worship is always emphasized, ancestor worship rituals are always maintained. The general worship rituals of the Red Dao are imbued with humanity, guiding descendants to remember their roots, warding off evil; carrying positive values, characteristics that create a unique and distinct cultural feature.

In 2024, the Photo and Video Contest "Happy Vietnam - Happy Vietnam" continues to be organized by the Ministry of Information and Communications in coordination with the Vietnam Association of Photographic Artists on the website.   https://happy.vietnam.vn is open to all Vietnamese citizens and foreigners aged 15 and over. The contest aims to honor individuals and groups with positive information products, making practical contributions to the propaganda and promotion of a beautiful image of Vietnam to the world. Thereby helping people in the country, compatriots abroad and international friends access authentic images of the country, Vietnamese people, Vietnam's achievements in ensuring human rights, towards a happy Vietnam.

Each contest category (photo and video) has the following prizes and prize values:
– 01 Gold Medal: 70,000,000 VND
– 02 Silver Medals: 20,000,000 VND
– 03 Bronze Medals: 10,000,000 VND
– 10 Consolation prizes: 5,000,000 VND
– 01 most voted work: 5,000,000 VND
The winning authors will be invited by the Organizing Committee to attend the announcement ceremony and award prizes and certificates on live television broadcast of Vietnam Television.

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