Honored to represent the Bahnar people of Gia Lai province to participate in the program, the artisans of Kon Mah village have been practicing diligently for over a month to bring the most eye-catching performances to the capital.
Together with the group of ethnic people who are active daily at the Vietnam National Village for Ethnic Culture and Tourism (Hanoi), the delegation will participate in many rich activities imbued with the cultural identity of the Central Highlands.
Specifically, on October 18 and 19, artisans performed gongs; introduced cultural spaces, traditional cuisine , costumes, handicrafts, primitive musical instruments, performed folk songs, folk dances, etc. In addition, there were activities to experience brocade weaving, knitting, folk games, statue carving, and pounding rice with a pair of pestles.
Locals and tourists also got to see Gia Lai artisans re-enact the water drop offering ceremony - an important ritual in the spiritual life of the Bahnar people in the highlands.
On the afternoon of October 15, the artists had a performance to report the program right at the communal house of Kon Mah village before leaving. All were dressed in their traditional ethnic costumes with a gong ensemble and unique bamboo musical instruments.
Participating in the series of activities "You are the flower of the mountain" organized by the Vietnam National Village for Ethnic Culture and Tourism, Dam San General Music and Dance Theater coordinated with artists to carefully prepare the content and performances.
It can be seen that the program is very unique, imbued with the identity of the mountains and forests. Hopefully, through this, the culture of the Central Highlands in general, and the culture of the Bahnar people in particular, will spread to a large number of domestic and foreign tourists.
At the beginning of the water drop worshiping ceremony, the celebrant read aloud a prayer in Bahnar, roughly translated: “We respectfully invite the Yang (gods) and ancestors to come here to attend the ceremony. Today, we celebrate the water drop, respectfully invite our ancestors above to come down to eat and drink with us, and pray that our ancestors above will always light the way for us to have a prosperous and peaceful life.
Now, I call upon Yang to pray for all the villagers to always be healthy, to have rice to eat, water to drink, and rice to save. The whole village is grateful for the water source that gives life to people, cattle, and trees. I ask Yang to bless the water to always be abundant, to not have drought; for the villagers to be healthy, for favorable weather and wind, and for bountiful crops.
Immediately after that, the gong songs "Merry New Rice" and "Merry Drops of Water" were played cheerfully. Many other special performances were also impressively performed by the troupe in front of the large yard of the majestic traditional communal house. These were instrumental ensemble "Celebrating Victory", gong song "Solidarity Greeting", love song "Confession on a Moonlit Night", folk song "Wait for Me"...
Not only honoring the identity and community cohesion - the eternal vitality of the indigenous peoples, the program also resounds with endless romantic melodies about love, about promises made through many farming seasons, along the stream, under the magical moonlight.
And worthy of the name “stilt village”, the artisans of Kon Mah village brought an attractive performance titled “Flying Feet”. On their “second legs” made of bamboo, they walked and jumped as if they were on the ground or beat their stilts in unison to the sound of the gongs, creating a vibrant and unique performance.
As the most talented artist in the team, Mr. Thui (50 years old) participated in most of the performances, from folk songs, drumming, gong playing to stilt performances. Having participated in many cultural performances and promotion activities in and outside the province, he still felt excited about this trip.
Artist Thui said: “Except for me, the remaining members are all coming to the capital to perform and interact with other ethnic groups for the first time, so everyone is happy. For more than a month now, every night at 7 pm we have gathered at the communal house of Kon Mah village to practice the performances together.”
At the age of 17, Hyăo was the youngest person chosen to participate in the program because of her flexible sinuses. Hyăo shyly said: “Until now, the farthest place I have ever been to is Dai Doan Ket Square (Pleiku ward, nearly 30 km from the village). This is the first time I have traveled so far, so I am both happy and nervous. On this occasion, I hope that through the team's activities, everyone will know about my village, the culture of the Bahnar people, gongs and many other traditional rituals.”
Source: https://baogialai.com.vn/hoa-cua-nui-toa-sac-tai-ha-noi-post569689.html
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