The problem of Tay Nguyen wine

14:31, 04/09/2023

If the Kinh people use "betel leaves as the beginning of a conversation", the ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands consider receiving guests and entertaining friends indispensable with rice wine.

In the Central Highlands, when children grow up, they also learn to drink ruou can (a kind of rice wine), dance (xoang), and play traditional musical instruments such as gongs, T'rung, goong, t'ni, k'longbut, ding tuk, ding yong... Musical instruments have gender distinctions, but ruou can (a kind of rice wine) does not. Ruou can is found in houses, in huts, and even stored in warehouses in the forest. Ruou can participates in all large and small activities of the community, from bustling and joyful festivals to two or three people whispering and confiding in each other about happy and sad stories. For the community, without ruou can, there would be no festival, no form of public activity. For individuals and families, without ruou can, there would be no soul for stories, including both intimate and business stories.

The Central Highlanders in general respect traditional customary laws. In the unwritten customary laws of the M'nong, J'rai and Bahnar, drunkards who cause trouble are severely punished. If drunkards do not cause trouble while sleeping, it means that the god of the jar of wine is lifting them up and taking them out to the forest. Can wine does not distinguish between rich and poor. Can wine is present in both the rich and noble houses and the poor. With just a basket of cassava, one can have a jar of good wine.

Can wine is always present in the lives of ethnic groups in the Central Highlands. Photo: Huu Hung

The rules for drinking wine are both simple and not simple at all. Even if the jar of wine is small, and there are only a few people drinking together, before drinking, the jar owner must make an offering to the gods and recite a prayer. At large festivals, the first person to drink must be the village elder, then the elders in the council of elders, then the guests and dignitaries, and finally the entire population. The people of the Central Highlands follow polytheism. They believe that everything around us has two parts: the body and the soul. The soul we cannot see must be worshiped and is generally called Yang (some scholars translate Yang as god, some scholars translate Yang as Heaven, God, and I translate it as Soul). Soul of the mountain. Soul of the river. Soul of the water. Soul of the tree. Soul of the rock. The soul of the wine jar… The people believe that after death, the “soul” still lurks somewhere, “it” needs to eat and drink like a living person, until the grave-leaving ceremony (pơthi), the ceremony to send the soul of Pơtâu (ghost) to the other world , which is also on this earth, but very far away, at the end of the forest and the end of the mountain, where everything is the opposite of ours: day is night, fullness is hunger, happiness is suffering, life is death, sadness is joy…

Can wine is made from rice, cassava, ripe banana, jackfruit, millet, corn... Can wine yeast is made from galangal, chili, some roots and leaves of forest trees, which is very simple but also very sophisticated, not much different from the fermentation process of Kinh people, the only difference is that after fermenting, people mix it with rice husks (so that when inserting the drinking tube, the hole will not be clogged). Then put it in a jar, cover it with banana leaves, about 10 days later the wine is ripe, take it out, add spring water and insert the drinking tube. The taste of Can wine is sweet, spicy, sour, bitter. The quality of the jar of wine depends on the hands of the person making it, on the ingredients and most importantly, the experience of the person making it.

I have had the opportunity to drink rice wine with the ethnic people of the Central Highlands many times. I remember the nights outside the huts with the people watching out for wild animals, by the fire in the huts, listening to the artists singing all night long. The story of Dam Yong, Dam Di, the Yoong Yu brothers trampling over landslides, running on the sacred water, riding on the clouds and the wind to fight the robbers and save the beautiful H'Bia, returning to the village with a grand scene, rice wine stacked from the communal house to the village yard, people from the surrounding area came to drink to celebrate the victory.

I have also been drunk many times because of the wine, because of the warm-heartedness of the people of the Central Highlands, and I learned a lesson. If you are drunk, drink more, the more drunk you get, drink until the wine is weak, the wine only has a little bit of yeast from the forest leaves in the stream water, then you will be sober and healthy again. Do you know, the spirit of wine has helped you get out of the drunken state and return to the community!

Middle Middle Peak

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