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Forest opening ceremony in folk beliefs

Việt NamViệt Nam08/02/2025


(QBĐT) - Spring is the festival season, so many festivals are held everywhere. Especially for villages living next to forests with forest areas under their management, the forest opening ceremony is highly respected. It is also a sacred custom in folk beliefs, and also has the meaning of spring joy.

In the past, Quang Binh had many villages that kept the custom of this ceremony as a consciousness in each person, such as: In Van Ninh, Phuc Tin, Thu Thu, Kim Nai... (Quang Ninh); Tan Hoa... (Minh Hoa); Tan Trach, Phuc Trach... (Bo Trach); Le Son, Thach Hoa... (Tuyen Hoa). Many areas in Minh Hoa were places where every year there was a ceremony to open the forest.

Usually, after Tet, the weather sometimes has a warm spring breeze, trees compete to sprout new leaves. Spring colors all over the mountains and forests from all kinds of trees and plants bloom together to enjoy the spring weather after a long, cold winter. In all the villages that live close to the forest, the village elders choose a good day to prepare to organize the ceremony.

In every region, the day chosen to hold the ceremony is almost the same. From early morning, the whole village is bustling, people's footsteps are excited, everyone chooses beautiful clothes, dresses neatly, brings incense, flowers, cakes, fruits and trays of food from each family to gather at the place chosen by the village every year to open the ceremony.

Bru-Van Kieu people in Truong Son commune (Quang Ninh) go to pick bamboo shoots. Photo: X.Thi
Bru-Van Kieu people in Truong Son commune ( Quang Ninh ) go to pick bamboo shoots. Photo: X.Thi

The forest opening ceremony is usually held from after Tet until the end of the second lunar month. For example, in Thanh Lang (Tuyen Hoa), the forest opening ceremony is usually held early on the 7th day of the first lunar month. The forest opening ceremony is also called the opening of the forest ceremony. Opening of the forest is also a ceremony to pray for peace for all villagers on the common land to have a prosperous year.

Every family prepares offerings for the ceremony, but they are not elaborate but simple. The offering includes a boiled rooster that they raised themselves, and a tray of sticky rice that they grew in their fields. The boiled rooster must be a chicken that has not mated with a hen, has spurs, and has pure yellow feathers, and is plump without bruises or scars. The person who butchers it must also have a skillful knife, the cut area must be dry, and the wings must be arranged symmetrically. When boiled, the chicken must be plump and golden, which is good. The sticky rice used to make the sticky rice must be very sticky, the sticky rice must be pounded many times to be white and the rice grains must be whole, take a pinch and place it on your hand and open it up so that a hundred grains look like one. The cooked sticky rice must be dry but smooth and supple, which is good...

The elders of the villages passed down the story: The forest opening ceremony has existed for a long time. Because people in the past, everywhere, lived closely with the forest. Thus, the forest opening ceremony is one of the most respected rituals and has existed for a long time along with the history of the nation. When the auspicious time has been chosen, the ceremony will take place on time.

The oldest person in the village who is still healthy comes to burn incense and pray to the gods to keep the forest safe for the people, to help them have a year of favorable and prosperous business, to give them wood to build houses, wood to build boats to cross the sea, thatch to make roofs, leaves to make medicine to cure diseases and make them grow well, rattan leaves to make cakes, bamboo shoots, mushrooms for food, rattan to weave hammocks, strings to tie fences, wrap banh chung, firewood... Opening the forest is also to take care of the self-grown forest of each family that receives land for products such as acacia forests, eucalyptus forests, rubber forests, bamboo forests...

Today we know that the forest opening ceremony is still preserved in many places and considered a beautiful religious custom, rich in humanity since ancient times. After the ceremony, the villagers entered the forest, climbing the steep slope step by step, feeling the pure sacred moment, rich in rusticity and full of human significance, so that everyone has more awareness to protect their homeland forest.

Van Tang

(Folklore researcher)



Source: https://www.baoquangbinh.vn/van-hoa/202502/le-mo-cua-rung-trong-tin-nguong-dan-gian-2224239/

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