According to the elders of the Ruc people, there was once a group of Ruc people who lived in caves, making a living by hunting and gathering. One day, exhausted from thirst, they stopped by a coconut tree, chipped a stone into the trunk, and saw a milky white stream of water flow out. They collected the water in leaves and drank it, finding it sweet, fragrant, spicy, and pungent. After a while, the group felt unusually healthy.
From then on, the Ruc people regarded that water as the essence of the mountains and forests, a refreshing drink. Later, the Ruc people called it "doac wine" and often drank it when going to the fields, during religious ceremonies, festivals, holidays, and celebrations such as new harvests and new houses.
Mr. Cao Ngoc Doan, from On village, Thuong Hoa commune (Minh Hoa district), one of the Ruc people with over 40 years of experience in collecting palm wine, said: "Palm trees are abundant in the mountains and forests of Thuong Hoa. Some trees are nearly 20 meters tall, yielding almost 50 liters in a single season. The palm wine here is also fragrant and delicious, so locals and visitors from many places order it."
According to Mr. Doan, palm wine is the milky-white resin extracted from the trunks of tall palm trees. Before collecting the palm wine, the bark of the Chua Huong tree (a type of tree found in the forest) must be dried and placed in containers to ferment at the base of the tree.
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The lives of the Ruc people in Thuong Hoa commune often depend on slash-and-burn agriculture and spending time in the forest, thus they are very closely connected to the palm tree. This tree not only provides them with an abundant source of refreshing water, but its trunk also contains starch that serves as food during times of poverty or when food is scarce.
Every year, on the 15th day of the first lunar month (the full moon of the first month), the Ruc people in the villages of Mo O O O, Yen Hop, and On hold a ceremony to pray for peace. Offerings to the deities include pork, chicken, sticky rice, stream fish… and, indispensably, rice wine. On the night of the 14th, after everything is prepared, the villagers gather around the fire, enjoying the flavors of the mountains and forests and chatting. Early in the morning of the full moon, all the offerings are placed on the altar, including the finest and purest rice wine offered to the deities.
Mr. Tran Quyen (95 years old), the village elder of On village, said: “The peace prayer ceremony is an occasion for the villagers to pray to the spirits for the Ruc people to always be healthy, safe, have favorable weather, bountiful harvests, prosperous businesses, and a comfortable and abundant life... Therefore, the offerings are all closely related to the lives of the people here, but they must choose the best and purest things, including rice wine. Not only in the peace prayer ceremony but also in the new rice harvest, new house, and traditional New Year celebrations… the Ruc people often use rice wine as offerings.”
In 2020, Oxalis Holiday Co., Ltd. launched a pilot tour exploring the Hung Trau valley during the flood season and the Ruc ethnic minority in Thuong Hoa commune. This tour allows visitors to discover and experience the wild nature amidst towering limestone cliffs and deep valleys filled with floodwaters. Visitors will have the opportunity to visit Ruc villages to learn about the culture and life of this ethnic group, considered one of the ten most mysterious tribes in the world . Simultaneously, visitors will enjoy traditional Ruc dishes such as stream fish, grilled cassava, snails, sticky rice, and a refreshing glass of rice wine.
Mr. Tran Xuan Tu, Head of On village, said: “Palm wine can be harvested year-round, but it is at its best in May when the palm trees bear fruit. This is also the time when palm trees yield the most wine, and the weather is less rainy and windy, so the quality is very good, carrying the distinctive aroma of the mountains and forests. With a suitable route and the attractive scenery, culture, and cuisine combined with the unique flavor of palm wine from the Minh Hoa mountains and forests, opening tours to explore this area is extremely necessary. If developed well and in the right direction, it will not only create new and unique tourism products for the province but also help the Ruc people develop socio-economically in the near future.”
Xuan Vuong
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Source: https://baoquangbinh.vn/dat-va-nguoi-quang-binh/202206/huong-vi-cua-nui-rung-2200958/
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