Celebrating the Muong New Year

Celebrating the Lunar New Year is a long-standing cultural tradition of the Vietnamese people. While customs and rituals may differ among ethnic groups, they all share a common joy and a wish for a prosperous, peaceful, happy, and abundant new year. The New Year celebration of the Muong people (Tan Son district) is no exception – a beautiful cultural tradition dating back thousands of years, reflecting humanistic values and community identity. More than just a time for festivities and celebrating the New Year, the Muong people also celebrate the reunion of their community culture; a place where solidarity is forged and strengthened.

Rice wine - a culinary tradition of the Muong people in Tan Son district during Tet (Lunar New Year).

On the last night of the twelfth lunar month, the small village of Chiềng (the name of an original Mường village, now part of Zone 5, Kiệt Sơn commune) was still shrouded in thick fog. From the traditional stilt house, the deep, resonant sound of the large gong echoed throughout the mountains and forests. A few minutes later, the courtyard of the village's community cultural center was packed with people. Dressed in their traditional costumes, old and young, men and women of the Mường land walked in procession around the village. They played their traditional musical instruments; their voices resonated with Mường songs, inviting the heavens and the vast forest to witness: The Mường village was holding a festival, welcoming the New Year – inaugurating the Spring.

This is an important ritual in the New Year's customs of the Muong people in Tan Son district. Only when the large gong is struck three times, its resounding sound echoing throughout the village, does the Muong land officially enter the new year, and other New Year's rituals begin to be performed.

Celebrating the Muong New Year

The tradition of carrying the spirit of the rice plant during the rice planting festival of the Muong people in Thu Cuc commune, Tan Son district.

Like many other ethnic groups residing in their ancestral homeland, the traditional Lunar New Year is one of the biggest festivals of the year for the Muong people of Tan Son. Therefore, long before Tet, the Muong people plan to raise pigs and chickens, select the best sticky rice and mung beans, and save up for Tet to make sticky rice, wrap cakes, and prepare a few jars of rice wine to offer guests... in accordance with the traditional customs of "steamed rice, stilt houses, carried water, and roasted pig."

Muong artisan Ha Van Quang (Zone 5, Kiet Son commune) said: “For the Muong people, the ancestor worship ceremony is the most important ritual during Tet (Lunar New Year). Therefore, the Muong altar during these days cannot be without a plate of five fruits, especially two sugarcane stalks placed on either side of the altar (symbolizing the ancestors using them as walking sticks to return to their descendants, guiding the souls of ancestors from heaven to earth). The Muong people believe that what they eat should be what they worship, so the offering tray will include all the traditional Tet dishes such as: boiled chicken, various traditional cakes (tube cakes, small cakes, horn-shaped cakes, lover's cakes), corn wine, sticky rice, boiled meat, grilled fish, betel nuts and leaves, and fish sauce and salt. The family offers as much cake and meat as they worship their ancestors, showing filial piety and remembrance of those who have passed away.”

In the vibrant culture of the traditional Muong New Year, besides the rituals of ancestor worship and the opening of the festivities with gongs, the customs of New Year greetings, "first-footing," and offering wine also possess unique characteristics. Respecting filial piety and gratitude, in Muong villages, the first place to welcome guests is usually the family of the village elder or shaman. Enjoying the simple pleasures of drinking rice wine offered by the host, each wish is exchanged and expressed through heartfelt and profound folk songs. In some Muong villages in the district today, the custom of the "phuong bua" singing group during Tet (Lunar New Year) is still preserved and passed down by the people. Accordingly, a group of Muong people in the village (about 12 people, regardless of age, gender) who know how to play gongs and sing will gather to form a "phuong bua." After the "nine-morning of the third month" (the last night of the twelfth lunar month), they will go from house to house, striking the gongs in rhythm and singing. The Muong people believe that the loud, resonant sound of gongs, combined with joyful and sincere celebratory songs, heralds a good and lucky new year.

Celebrating the Muong New Year

Tet (Lunar New Year) is an occasion for the Muong people of Tan Son district to exchange cultures and strengthen community solidarity.

"New Year's Day" (or Tet) is the biggest festival of the year for the Muong people in Tan Son district. The festival begins on the 27th day of the 12th lunar month and ends on the 7th day of the 1st lunar month. From the 27th to the 30th of the 12th lunar month, the Muong people perform tasks such as: visiting graves, planting the New Year's tree, cleaning their houses, and washing their farming tools. This is a way of cleansing themselves of dirt and grime to welcome the new year, hoping for good fortune and peace. The final day of Tet ends on the 7th day of the 1st lunar month (the day of the harvest). On this day, the Muong people hold the rice planting festival (the rice spirit procession), praying for a bountiful harvest, peace, and prosperity in the new year. After this day, the Tet celebrations officially end, and the Muong people begin plowing and planting the first rice crop of the year.

Tet in the Muong villages is an occasion for village gatherings, for men and women to meet, make friends, and find love; a time when community culture is promoted and spread. Therefore, during the main days of Tet, all Muong villages organize attractive cultural, sports , and entertainment activities, each with its own unique ethnic characteristics. From old to young, men and women, everyone chooses their best clothes to attend the festivities and celebrate the Spring. A joyful, bustling atmosphere, vibrant with the colors of Spring, is present throughout the Muong villages.

As a mountainous district with over 70% of its population belonging to the Muong ethnic group, in recent years, to preserve and promote the beautiful traditional values in the customs of celebrating the traditional Tet holiday of the Muong people, the Tan Son District People's Committee has developed a plan and directed the District Department of Culture and Information to guide communes in organizing diverse cultural exchange activities to celebrate the Party and the Spring Festival, linked with preserving and promoting the beautiful traditional Tet culture of ethnic minorities in the district in general and the Muong people in particular. Notable examples include: organizing the rice planting festival (associated with the rice spirit procession) in Thu Cuc commune, the Cua Thanh Temple festival in Thach Kiet commune; organizing cultural, sports, and recreational activities reflecting the Muong ethnic identity (such as Vi singing, Rang singing, Sinh Tien dance, gong and drum playing, Cham Duong dance; crossbow shooting, throwing the ball, swinging, etc.).

January brings the radiant spring sunshine to every stilt house. Amidst the warm, intoxicating wine and the resounding gongs, the Muong people join together in joyful spring songs. More than just a festive occasion, preserving and promoting the beauty of the traditional Tet holiday is how the Muong people here continue to carry on the spirit and cultural identity of their ethnic group.

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