New Rice Festival Performance

Opening the show, a group of artisans and extras from Song Ma commune performed an excerpt from the New Rice Celebration Festival.

The “New Rice Celebration” festival of Song Ma commune has existed for a long time and is held regularly in October of the solar calendar. The festival is an agricultural worshiping belief, imbued with the culture of the people, to thank heaven and earth, ancestors for blessing the people of the villages with a bountiful harvest and to pray for favorable weather and wind for the following crops.

Performance of excerpt from the "New Rice Celebration" Festival in Song Ma commune.

The festival featured a thanksgiving ceremony, including four worshiping activities: plowing, sowing rice; planting rice, chasing away birds; harvesting rice, pounding green rice; inviting ancestors and gods to eat, drink rice wine, and dance xoe to enjoy with the villagers. The offering tray included traditional dishes of the Thai people, such as green rice, sticky rice, vegetables, wild fruits, pork, chicken, grilled fish, bee pupae, etc. The shaman performed the rituals with respect and sincerity, expressing gratitude to the gods, ancestors, and kings who ruled the land, sky, rivers, and mountains, hoping to receive the offerings from the villagers and praying for protection and blessing for the villagers to have a prosperous and happy life.

With careful preparation from practice, costumes, props, the artists and actors from Song Ma commune showed their talent and performed well. Thereby, helping the audience and tourists understand and appreciate the cultural identity of the Thai ethnic group.