Under the traditional Rong house roof, villagers happily welcome spring and organize festivals together to thank the gods for helping them have a bountiful and prosperous harvest.
Spring – the season of festivals
The Rong house is a symbol of faith and strength for the ethnic groups in the Central Highlands. It is also a place to preserve the sacred objects of the villages. Every time Tet comes, spring comes, the villagers gather under the traditional Rong house roof. By the flickering fire, Jrai and Ba Na girls hold hands and perform rhythmic and graceful xoang dances to the bustling gong and cymbal sounds of young men to celebrate a lucky, prosperous and happy new year.
For generations, for the ethnic groups in the Central Highlands, spring has always been the season of festivals and joy. These days, the sound of gongs and cymbals always resonates in the great forest, connecting people with heaven and earth, with the community. With the wish for a favorable year, a prosperous life, and full granaries, every Tet, the Ba Na people in Kte Kchang village, Kong Chro district (Gia Lai province) prepare to perform the New Year's worship ceremony together in a bustling, joyful atmosphere.
Village elder Siu Nui (middle) performs the ceremony to celebrate the new Rong house - one of the most important rituals of the Jrai people.
Accordingly, Kte Kchang is the deepest village of Kong Chro district with more than 90% of Ba Na people living there. However, returning to the remote village in the first days of the new year, we felt the bustling atmosphere of spring permeating the stilt houses.
On the clean and tidy concrete village road, people are busy cleaning and preparing offerings to perform a particularly important ritual - the New Year's Eve ceremony. The ritual marks the beginning of a peaceful, prosperous year, with good crops to help the villagers feel warm and well-off. Accordingly, the villagers of Kte Kchang will celebrate the New Year for 3 days, first at the communal house, then individually at each household.
According to Mr. Dinh Alenh - Secretary of the Party cell of Kte Kchang village: "Every year, the village organizes a New Year's ceremony, this is a very important ritual for the people of Kte Kchang village. Besides the wish for a new year with everything going smoothly, the villagers having health and peace, on this occasion, the village elder also does not forget to pray to the gods for favorable rain and wind so that the seedlings grow evenly, and the villagers have a bountiful harvest."
Sharing with reporters, village elder Dinh Blin (65 years old), who runs the New Year's ceremony of Kte Kchang village, said: " After a year of hard work, Tet and Spring are the occasions for villagers to prepare important offerings to Yang - the gods. This ceremony is an opportunity for villagers to ask the gods to bless the people with good health, no illness and always have enough. The offerings to the gods include: 3 pigs, 3 chickens, 3 jars of wine. The offering part will be undertaken by the Council of Village Elders (consisting of 3 people), in which, a village elder will be appointed as the master of ceremonies, standing up to pray to the gods."
“ After completing the offering, the village elder will pour pig blood and wine and distribute it to everyone to take home. The next day, the village elder will continue to be invited to each family to carry out the procedure of taking pig blood and wine to smear on the house, machinery, labor tools, etc. and smear on the foreheads of family members, with the hope that the new year will dispel all disasters and bad luck, and at the same time bring blessings and prosperity, ” said village elder Blin.
During the festival, villagers beat gongs, dance, drink wine and wish each other the best. This is also an opportunity for everyone to strengthen solidarity and work towards a better life.
Preserving and promoting cultural heritage through festivals
In addition to the New Year celebration, this spring, districts and towns in Gia Lai province also organize many important festivals such as: New rice celebration, victory celebration, water wharf worship, yard worship... In particular, there is the new communal house celebration, one of the unique traditional cultural values that the Jrai people always attach special importance to.
According to the Jrai people, the Rong house is a symbol of the common culture and beliefs of the community. The Rong house is not only a place for activities, meetings, and festivals of the whole community but also a sacred place, with important significance in the spiritual life. Therefore, the ceremony to worship the new Rong house is one of the important and unique rituals of the Jrai people. After moving, repairing or building a new Rong house, the villages must organize a Yang worship ceremony to thank the gods for supporting and helping the villagers in the past and pray for peace and prosperity when moving to the new Rong house.
Under the traditional Rong house roof, villagers happily welcome spring and organize festivals together to thank the gods for helping them have a bountiful and prosperous harvest.
Mr. Do Van Dong - Vice Chairman of Ia Grai District People's Committee, said: "The new communal house worshiping ceremony is one of the unique traditional rituals of the Jrai people that the district preserves and promotes traditional cultural values. Along with many festivals held during the year, the district hopes that through traditional rituals, it will improve the spiritual and cultural life, the awareness of preserving and promoting the cultural values of the villagers. At the same time, introducing and promoting cultural heritage creates highlights and unique features to promote economic development of tourism, create jobs, increase income and improve the quality of life for the people".
In order to preserve, maintain and promote the cultural identity of ethnic minorities, recently, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Gia Lai province has also organized many cultural activities, including the restoration and reenactment of traditional rituals of ethnic minorities.
Accordingly, in these festivals, many traditional rituals of ethnic minorities have been restored. These rituals have created a colorful cultural space and become one of the unique factors attracting domestic and international tourists. This is the highlight that creates a unique feature and a strong breakthrough for Gia Lai tourism. In particular, it creates motivation for ethnic minorities to preserve traditional culture associated with tourism development, contributing to improving material and spiritual life.
Along with preserving and promoting traditional values of the community, the restoration of traditional rituals is also an opportunity for people and tourists to learn and experience the traditional values that our ancestors have left for thousands of years. In particular, we can mention the Gia Lai Culture - Tourism Week taking place at the end of 2023.
Many attractive activities such as: Festival of performing intangible cultural heritage of Central Highlands Gong Cultural Space; recreating community living space, re-enacting traditional rituals... with the participation of more than 1,300 artisans from 5 Central Highlands provinces have attracted 165,000 tourists to visit and experience.
According to Mr. Tran Ngoc Nhung - Director of the Department of Culture - Sports and Tourism of Gia Lai province: " In the coming time, the cultural sector of Gia Lai province will promote the preservation, embellishment and promotion of unique cultural values of ethnic groups in the province. At the same time, increase investment in cultural preservation; cultural heritages, customs and practices of ethnic groups. The Department will continue to implement activities to preserve and promote cultural heritage according to the plan to implement the National Target Program on socio-economic development of ethnic minority and mountainous areas; diversify tourism programs associated with learning about local culture; strengthen the socialization of cultural activities and cultural heritages in the locality".
Tran Hien
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