Cha Mun Festival: A heritage that awakens the identity of the Thai people in Yen Thang.

VHO - Restored since 2017 and recognized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage in October 2024, the Cha Mun Festival of the Black Thai ethnic group in Yen Thang commune, Thanh Hoa province, is strongly reviving, becoming a unique cultural and tourism highlight in the western part of Thanh Hoa.

The ritual of erecting the cotton tree (Boọc mạy) in the Chá Mùn Festival of the Black Thai people in Yên Thắng commune.

The journey to revive an ancient festival.

According to legend, in ancient times, the Muong Lum village experienced a period of barren land, prolonged droughts, and rampant diseases that devastated the lives of the people. With no other options, the Thai people had to send someone to the Heavenly Realm to seek help from Po Then.

Understanding the suffering of the local people, Pó Then opened the gates of heaven, sending soldiers and divine healers down to earth to eradicate evil spirits, cure the sick, and bless the people with favorable weather and abundant harvests. Since then, every year in the 9th and 10th lunar months, the Black Thái people hold the Chá Mùn Festival to thank heaven and earth, and to pray for blessings, health, and peace.

At the heart of the festival is the cotton tree (Booc May), erected in the center of the courtyard and decorated with flowers, birds, models of livestock, and seasonal motifs, symbolizing the aspiration for fertility and abundance. Beside the cotton tree is a jar of rice wine – a symbol of prosperity and unity. Every member of the village, from young to old, joins in the festive atmosphere with reverence but also with joyful enthusiasm.

The Chá Mùn festival consists of four main steps: preparation; welcoming the spirits; performing the rituals; and bidding farewell to the spirits as they return to the Heavenly Realm. The rituals are performed by traditional healers, respected individuals with extensive experience in healing and possessing rich folk knowledge. Each prayer, gong rhythm, song, and dance reflects the rich intangible cultural heritage of the Black Thai community.

The Chá Mùn festival often lasts for hours with unique folk games such as throwing the ball, archery, stilt walking, and singing and dancing around the cotton tree. These activities not only create a joyful atmosphere but also evoke cultural identity, encouraging the younger generation to be proud of and preserve traditions.

The shaman performs the Pó Then thanksgiving ritual in a traditional festival setting.

After 1945, war and difficult living conditions caused the festival to gradually fade into oblivion. It wasn't until 2017 that the Thanh Hoa Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in coordination with Lang Chanh district, restored it according to traditional rituals. In 2019, Yen Thang commune continued to organize the festival on a commune-wide scale, attracting a large number of local people and tourists.

National Heritage and New Expectations in Yen Thang

Through generations, the Chá Mùn ritual has been passed down by the community, preserving its essence. To this day, the traditional procedures are still fully practiced. Before the ceremony, the shaman will announce to those who have been healed by the shaman (called Lúc May) to prepare offerings including a chicken, a bottle of wine, a brocade umbrella, a cushion stuffed with reeds, and five betel leaves.

On the main day of the festival, Luc May and the villagers, dressed in colorful costumes and carrying offerings on their heads, gathered at the shaman's house to give thanks to Po Then. Thirty-one trays of offerings were prepared, with one main tray placed in the center of the house, along with 30 smaller trays containing fruits, sticky rice, chicken, pork, grilled fish, wine, etc., symbolizing the prosperity of the village.

After the prayers to the spirits, the head shaman and the Mùn shamans perform the ritual of inviting and bidding farewell to Pó Then and the other spirits, sending them back to the Heavenly Realm, concluding the festival season with the belief in a peaceful new year and a bountiful harvest.

Thai people beat drums and gongs joyfully at the Cha Mun Festival. Photo: News and Ethnic Groups.

Mr. Lo Viet Lam, one of the people in the village known as the "keeper of the soul" of the Cha Mun Festival in Ngam Poc village (Yen Thang district), shared: "The Cha Mun Festival is a sacred cultural and religious tradition of the Black Thai people. Being recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage makes us very proud. I and the elders will continue to promote and encourage people to preserve and publicize the festival so that this beautiful tradition can spread more widely."

In addition to community efforts, local authorities are also proactively preserving and promoting the value of the festival.

Mr. Ha Trung Kien, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Yen Thang commune, said that the commune is developing a project "Preserving and promoting the value of the Cha Mun Festival in the period 2025 - 2030", which emphasizes teaching festival knowledge to the younger generation, organizing extracurricular talks, and inviting artisans to guide rituals at schools.

At the same time, the commune is orienting itself towards linking cultural preservation with the development of ecotourism and adventure tourism in Ngam Poc and Peo villages, opening up new livelihood opportunities for the people.

The recognition of Chá Mùn as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage is not only a source of pride for Yên Thắng but also a significant impetus for the locality to integrate cultural preservation with community tourism development. The festival contributes to increasing the attractiveness of western Thanh Hóa province, creating unique tourism products based on the Black Thai cultural identity.

Currently, Thanh Hoa has 28 national-level intangible cultural heritage sites, reflecting the rich and diverse spiritual life of the ethnic groups in the area. Among them, the Cha Mun Festival is a new highlight, further affirming Thanh Hoa's position as a land rich in tradition, where indigenous culture is always preserved, passed down, and disseminated.

Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/dan-toc-ton-giao/le-hoi-cha-mun-di-san-danh-thuc-ban-sac-nguoi-thai-o-yen-thang-186807.html