The unique New Rice Festival of the Muong people.

Amidst the lingering spring mist over the rice paddies, the Muong people of Xuan Du commune enthusiastically celebrate the New Rice Festival. Beyond demonstrating the principle of "drinking water, remembering the source," expressing gratitude to deities and ancestors, and praying for a year of favorable weather and abundant harvests, the festival is also an opportunity for the community to bond, preserve, and pass on the unique cultural values ​​of the Muong people to the younger generation.

The New Rice Festival is a traditional Muong ritual held on the 7th day of the first lunar month every year. This ceremony is deeply rooted in the Muong people's agricultural culture, linked to ancestor worship and the concept of "drinking water, remembering the source," expressing gratitude to ancestors and the heavens for their hard work in tending the fields and ensuring bountiful harvests. It also includes a prayer for continued blessings from ancestors and the heavens for a bountiful harvest in the new year.

The festival begins with the ritual of carrying the spirit of the rice. The shaman and a group of people dressed in traditional Muong ethnic costumes walk around the village and rice fields to perform the ceremony.

Following the rice spirit procession ceremony and the offering of new rice, the shaman, dressed in traditional attire, performs the ritual of prayer and thanksgiving, on behalf of the community, to the heavens, earth, and ancestors for blessing the bountiful harvest.

On the offering trays are freshly cooked sticky rice, green vegetables, boiled pork, and grilled fish – the fruits of labor after a harvest season. Each ritual expresses reverence for the rice grain – the crystallization of the earth and sky, hard work, and faith.

Following the ceremony, the festival space was filled with the sounds of gongs and drums, folk dances, and traditional games, attracting a large number of locals and tourists.

Maintaining the New Rice Festival not only fulfills religious needs but also contributes to preserving the cultural identity of the Muong people in a modern context; at the same time, it opens up the potential for developing community tourism associated with local cultural experiences.

Quynh Chi

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/doc-dao-le-hoi-com-moi-nguoi-muong-279112.htm