FINDING THE PROTOTYPE
Nearly 10 years ago, in A Luoi Town (HA Luoi, Thua Thien-Hue), thousands of people gathered to enjoy the Ariêu car festival under the direction of the village elders of the Pa Koh, Ta Oi, Co Tu, Pa Hy ethnic groups... Last October, the Pa Koh people recreated the Ariêu car festival on a smaller scale at the traditional cultural village of the HA Luoi ethnic groups. "These festivals have been staged and only the unique rituals have been selected to perform. Anyone who has the opportunity to live in the atmosphere of the Ariêu car festival of the Pa Koh people like us can be considered lucky. Because in the original, this festival is only held once every 10 years, and even once every 30 years...", village elder Ho Van Hanh, who is known as the "living dictionary in Truong Son", began the story.
Village elders welcome guests to the festival
I had the opportunity to experience the Ariêu car festival right in the land where Elder Hanh was born and raised in An Trieng village (Trung Son commune) in August 2023. Witnessing the rituals, I saw that the festival almost displayed all the quintessence of the intangible cultural heritage of the Pa Koh people, from music, folk tales, folk songs to the art of tomb carving, traditional costumes, cuisine, etc. According to Elder Hanh, Ariêu car is a reburial festival of the Pa Koh people with a total of more than 20 rituals. Since ancient times, our ancestors have also divided it into 2 parts, including: the festival part with the joy of neighboring villages and the ceremony part with worship rituals performed by the clans. Before, during and until the end of the festival, the village organizing Ariêu car must provide enough food and drinks for hundreds of guests within 3 days.
People bring the remains of their loved ones to the festival area.
"Before the festival begins, the village elders and clan leaders must perform a ceremony including the tang hung ritual to unify the organization, preparation, and guests... Next is the axa arah ceremony to cleanse the village of dirt and impurities... When entering the main ceremony, Arieu car has outstanding rituals, such as: padôh â đồng (opening the festival); veel moot (welcoming guests); pa ưn veel (festival welcome dance); thấtt ti lê (buffalo stabbing festival); túc arieu car (worshiping Arieu car); moot câr hoot, coat pâr nai (entrusting, making a covenant); pachoo tâm mooi (seeing off guests); zi zar (signaling the end of the festival)", said Elder Hanh, adding: "The Arieu car festival taking place in August 2023 is the prototype festival with spiritual rituals towards the deceased. This is something that the recreated Arieu car ceremonies have omitted".
THE GREAT CELEBRATION OF SOLIDARITY
In the ceremony performed only within the village, I witnessed the scene where after the reburial ceremony, people brought the urns (ta'r nau) containing the remains of their loved ones back and placed them on pre-made bamboo stands with roofs on top. The urns were placed in rows and in order according to each clan. If the time for reburial was not enough for more than 10 years, people often took a handful of soil or caught a grasshopper and put it in the urns to bring home for worship. After the above-mentioned rituals, people would bring the urns to place in the tombs with designs and decorations typical of the highlands. Village elder Ho Van Rai (80 years old, A Dieng Par Leng 1 village, Trung Son commune) said that the ceremony also had interesting points, such as asking for permission from the deceased to be buried in the same tomb or not, otherwise another tomb would have to be built...
Each clan will design a bamboo floor to place the urns containing the remains.
Many Pa Koh elders said that to carry out the Ariêu car festival, the HA Luoi authorities consulted and asked for opinions from many prestigious people in the community. Initially, because they were afraid of touching the graves and traditional spiritual rituals, many elders rejected it. However, after discussion, they realized that the festival would only be recreated with "excerpts" of performance and art, so the elders agreed. "Moreover, Ariêu car is organized with the participation of all ethnic groups, so the meaning is even greater. At first, I was also satisfied, but hearing that it could gather all ethnic groups is great, both uniting and promoting the unique culture of this highland region", elder Ho Van Hanh said.
Through the organization of the Arieu car festival, the art of tomb houses of the highlanders in A Luoi is revived.
Recently, when participating in the reenactment of the Ariêu car festival, village elder Le Tuan Mo (70 years old, residing in Hong Thuong commune) was excited because many tourists came to the cultural village of ethnic minorities in HA Luoi to watch. Immersing himself in the traditional dances of his people with artisans and young people, elder Mo was happy because the younger generation is increasingly aware of joining hands to preserve traditional cultural values. Especially, the reenactment of the Ariêu car festival promises to provide people with food and clothing when it becomes a unique tourism product serving tourists.
Ms. Le Thi Them, Head of the Department of Culture and Information of Ha Luoi, further explained that the Arieu car festival in the past had value in connecting and creating solidarity among tribes, because during this festival, some villages resolved conflicts, and some villages became more closely associated. When recreating the Arieu car, the Department of Culture and Information of the district proactively omitted the tomb ritual, especially the buffalo stabbing ritual that caused offense. According to Ms. Them, today, although it is being re-enacted, the Arieu car festival is organized at the district level with a series of cultural and sports activities that have truly become a great solidarity festival for ethnic minorities. (continued)
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nhung-le-hoi-doc-dao-tuc-cai-tang-thanh-dai-le-o-truong-son-185241130195955655.htm
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