Traditionally, the Xơ Đăng people celebrate the new rice harvest from August to the end of September. A few days before the ceremony, the village elders will hold a village meeting to assign people to repair the water channels, rice storage, and prepare the ceremonial pole...
Traditionally, the Xơ Đăng people perform a ritual offering to the new rice god before harvesting. The offerings include a ceremonial pole, a pig, chickens, rice wine, bamboo-cooked rice, dried meat, rat meat, shrimp, fish, and wild vegetables. The Xơ Đăng believe that a bountiful harvest is due to the blessings of the rice god, and they express their gratitude to this deity with great care.
Before the ceremony takes place, the village elder (or head of the household) gathers family members to prepare the necessary items for the ceremony, such as winnowing trays, baskets for holding rice, mortars for pounding rice, etc. They wear traditional clothing, with beads and white threads on their wrists, and carry machetes and knives as they head towards their family's rice fields.
During the ceremony, the village elder prayed and thanked the spirits for the bountiful harvest, the full granaries, and for the cassava, corn, and favorable weather. Afterward, the women of the village dispersed to thresh the first handfuls of rice, placing them into three baskets. The first basket held rice for the family and their pigs and chickens; the second was for cooking the new rice, to share with the villagers in celebration; and the third was for storing the rice in the granary.
When the rice arrives home, it is offered as a sacrifice with pig's blood to welcome the rice god to the village and the new granary. After the village elders finish the ceremony, the men slaughter the pig, and the women pound the rice to cook it, then they all eat the new rice together. Guests are invited to share the new rice and drink rice wine; the host plays gongs and drums, and sings to socialize with the guests.
This year's harvest festival of the Xơ Đăng people in Trà Linh was particularly vibrant thanks to the government's support in organizing it on a large scale, attracting a large number of people from surrounding communes and tourists to participate and experience it.
Source: https://baoquangnam.vn/dong-bao-xo-dang-to-chuc-le-an-mung-lua-moi-3140088.html
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