Unique New Rice Festival of the Tay people

The New Rice Festival is meant to summarize a year of hard work, to give thanks to heaven and earth, the Mother Goddess of the Mountain and ancestors. This is also an opportunity for people to meet, exchange production experiences, and at the same time educate their children to preserve and promote the traditional cultural beauty of the Tay Khao ethnic group.

Offering ceremony in the New Rice festival, a dance to pray for a good harvest in front of the temple.

According to custom, on the day of the Cat, September every year (this year held on October 24 and 25), the Tay Khao people of Dong Cuong commune, Lao Cai province hold the New Rice Festival. The festival is held at Dong Cuong temple, a sacred place to worship the Second Mother of the Upper Realm and the national heroes of the Tran Dynasty who fought against the Yuan-Mongol army.

The festival is an occasion to offer the Mother Goddess, the Jade Emperor and the gods the first products of the season, expressing gratitude to heaven and earth, gods and ancestors for giving them a good harvest, a prosperous and happy life. At the same time, pray for the gods to bless the coming year with favorable weather, peace and prosperity for the country and its people, and a bountiful harvest. During the festival, there is a ritual of slaughtering a black buffalo to worship the Mother Goddess and sacrifice it to heaven and earth, taking place at 0:00 on the day of the Cat in the 9th month.

The black buffalo symbolizes purity, loyalty and strength, symbolizing the harmony between humans and all things in the universe. At exactly 0 o'clock, when the ritual drums resound in the sacred space of Dong Cuong temple, the buffalo sacrifice ceremony is solemnly performed under the leadership of the Shaman and the elders. After the sacrifice ceremony, the buffalo meat is processed into 36 trays of food, the first trays of the New Rice season, offered in the main hall to worship the Mother Goddess, the Jade Emperor, the National Guardian God and to commemorate the heroes, generals and soldiers who bravely sacrificed.

On the New Rice tray, besides familiar products such as corn, sticky rice, potatoes, cassava, new sticky rice is the most quintessential gift of the golden season, respectfully offered by people to Mother Earth and the gods for blessing a good harvest, a prosperous and happy life. Along with agricultural products, new sticky rice is the quintessential gift of the season, considered the most important offering, offered to Mother Earth and the Jade Emperor. Within the framework of the festival, in addition to the main ceremony, there are also spiritual cultural activities such as: performing spirit mediumship, offering incense, carrying palanquins, serving the Saints... attracting a large number of mediums, local people and tourists from all over to practice the Mother Goddess worship.

Dong Cuong Temple is an ancient temple, located on the Red River, in Dong Cuong Commune, Lao Cai Province, which has long been famous for its sacredness. The main temple worships the Second Mother of the Upper Realm, the second Mother of the Three Holy Mothers, and is a place to worship national heroes who contributed to the resistance against the Yuan-Mongol army, along with the Tay leaders who heroically sacrificed their lives in the uprising against the French colonialists in 1914.

Comrade Hoang Hoa, Secretary of the Commune Party Committee, said: The New Rice Festival at Dong Cuong Temple is not only a spiritual activity, but also a link connecting the past with the present, a vivid demonstration of the enduring vitality of Tay Khao culture, contributing to the preservation of intangible cultural heritage, developing spiritual tourism and promoting socio -economic development in the semi-mountainous area, where many ethnic minorities live.

Currently, the government and people of Dong Cuong commune actively participate in maintaining and preserving the yellow sticky rice varieties (to make green rice flakes), raising high-quality buffaloes for festivals (white buffaloes for the beginning of the year, black buffaloes for the end of the year). At the same time, the locality maintains mass art troupes, teaching ancient dances, such as then dance, fan dance, and harvest dance... so that the traditional culture of the Tay Khao people is not lost.

Article and photos: THANH SON

Source: https://nhandan.vn/doc-dao-le-hoi-com-moi-cua-nguoi-tay-post919714.html