Telling stories of the Ede people

Long ago, the Ede villages in the mountainous region of Dak Lak had houses as long as “a horse’s breath” and “longer than a gong’s sound”.

People say that the number of windows in a house is equal to the number of daughters. I don’t know if it’s true, but the image of silhouettes in flowing dresses passing over the bamboo floor (Ede girls wear long-sleeved dresses that cover their heels) or in the afternoons, women with “brown skin, bright eyes, gentle figures” sitting diligently weaving by the window is so beautiful it captivates people’s hearts. Every time a family has a daughter getting married, the house will be extended with another room for the new couple. That’s what the long house is called.

The Ede people have a custom that whenever there is a big event, they will play knah gongs in the long house, so in every family's stilt house there is a kpan chair 5 - 10 m long, even 15 m long for the gong troupe to sit and play. And only the Ede people have kpan. Elephants, kpan chairs, buffaloes, gongs, jars... are artifacts that represent the wealth and power of a family or a clan.

Not every household in the village can afford to make kpan, because it requires many costly ceremonies. And the homeowner must have 60 farming seasons and have a fair amount of gongs and jars to be able to make kpan, not everyone can do it whenever they want.

Because the forest is always considered by the people as a sacred entity that needs to be respected, when deciding to make a kpan, first there must be a small ceremony including a chicken, a jar of wine, asking for permission from the Yang to go into the forest to find wood. Go from one forest to another, looking for a tree that is 2-3 arm spans long, straight, without any kind of plants or vines. You must find 1-2 trees of the same size because a set of kpan chairs in the house must include 3 pieces: a large kpan for the ching team, two short jhungs for the homeowner and for guests to sleep.

Kpan is where the gong ensemble sits to perform. Photo: Huu Hung

Once the tree is found, mark it so that others know that the tree has been chosen. On the day of deciding to cut the tree, a jar of wine and a chicken must be brought home to inform the Yangs of what they will do that day. When the group reaches the forest where the chosen tree is, the shaman must once again ask the forest god to let them cut down the tree, along with the chicken and jar of wine.

After the shaman's prayer, 7 young men carrying swords and khil will dance around the tree 7 times to ward off evil forces that prevent the chair from being made. After the procedure is completed, the tree is quickly cut down. When cutting, people must consider which direction the tree will fall so as not to break or damage the surrounding trees.

Once the tree is down, the most experienced craftsman will use a pair of gloves and bamboo sticks to calculate the length and width of the chair. A tree that is more than 10 meters long and 4 pairs of gloves in diameter can be split in half, enough to make both a kpan and a jhung. The tree is quickly peeled, cut into desired lengths, and then split in half again. The skill of the Ede craftsman will be clearly demonstrated here: With only axes and axes, without any planes or chisels, the tree trunks are transformed into flat surfaces, skillfully peeling off the legs and the surface of the kpan chair to form a single block. The remaining part also becomes one or two jhung chairs, only shorter, but the width, thickness and legs must still be a single block. When encountering a large tree, it can be split into a set of three. The body and legs are one piece, that is the special thing about the Ede kpan and jhung chairs.

Once the Kpan is done, there must be a ceremony to inform the forest god that the chair will be brought back to the village. After the ceremony, the seven boys dance with the khil and sword to ward off evil forces, then everyone will put the chair on their shoulders and carry it back to the village. When it reaches the yard, it cannot be brought to the stage immediately. There must be beautiful young women dancing the grứ phiơr - flying birds dance and once again the boys dance with the sword, with the accompaniment of the girls splashing water to welcome the chair, and to guard against… evil spirits following them from the forest, also to show off their skillful khil dancing skills, being splashed with water without getting their clothes wet. After this procedure is completed, the chair can be carried to the stage. It will be placed along the length, south of the stilt house (the gong ensemble will sit facing north).

Kpan is where the gong ensemble sits to perform when there is a family event. Photo: Nguyen Gia

This is the happiest moment for the homeowner. Adults offer 1-2 buffaloes or cows, children also offer 1 buffalo and 2 pigs to the Yang to receive kpan or kpan diet. After that, the girls dance the pah kngan rong yang dance, clap their hands and invite the gods to drink wine, then pray to inform the Yang, and wish good health to the homeowner and family.

The host of the wine party (gai pie) will invite guests in the form of a wine waterfall (7 girls tilt short bamboo tubes to pour water into the jar, the guests must drink it all), then invite everyone to drink mnhăm mring wine to share with the family in order of age, women first, men later.

The wine jars must be passed around without letting go until the end of the row of jars. Finally, it is time for the fun part, people will sing the k'ut tune to confide in each other, the arei tune to exchange love stories or to play quizzes... The wine flows all over, one jar is bland and replaced with another. The kpan procession is one of the biggest family celebrations, and is also a common joy for the whole community.

After the day of bringing kpan home, it's time to continue the steps, but you will also have to follow the same steps as making kpan.

Festivals associated with community life, whether according to the agricultural calendar or the life cycle, often take place during the “eating year and drinking month” season – spring – the Tet season of the Central Highlands people. The excited sound of the knah gong from the kpan flies up over the long stilt house roof fluttering with the blue clouds and the golden sunlight “for the rabbit to listen and forget to graze, the monkey to forget to climb”… The whole village celebrates the wealth, growth, and prosperity of the family, of the community…

Linh Nga Nie Kdam

Source: https://baodaklak.vn/van-hoa-du-lich-van-hoc-nghe-thuat/202507/ke-chuyen-kpan-ede-88a1353/