K'Ho people in Lam Dong re-enact the New Rice Celebration - Vietnam.vn (2024)

As part of the series of activities of the Ethnic Cultural Folk Performance Competition taking place in Quang Ngai province, the Lam Dong artisan group recreated the New Rice Celebration (Nho R'he) ceremony of the K'Ho Sre - Lam people. River.

K'Ho is an indigenous ethnic group that has long lived in Lam Dong province. The K'Ho ethnic group includes many branches: K'Ho Sre, K'Ho Nop, K'Ho Cil, K'Ho Lach... Most of the K'Ho branches live in high mountains with shifting cultivation and hunting practices. catch, gather.

Particularly, the K'Ho Sre people work in wet fields (in the K'Ho language, sre means field), raise cattle and poultry, and settle down along valleys near water sources.

With the concept of all things being spiritual, the K'Ho Sre people believe that all aspects of life are controlled by supernatural forces. The K'Ho people worship the gods of the sun, moon, mountain gods, river gods, earth gods, rice gods...

As residents living on agriculture, the festivals of the K'Ho Sre people are also associated with the life cycle, crops, and festival rituals all worshiping the gods (Yang). Each season, the K'Ho people often organize many different festivals such as: Sih sre (sowing rice), Nho wèr (worshiping rice), Nho bre Rohe (bringing rice to the warehouse), Nho R'he (celebrating new rice )…

The New Rice Celebration Festival is often organized by the K'Ho Sre people when the harvest has been completed (around December to January of the following year) to convey their wishes and pray for the rice god to bestow upon everyone and every family. have something to eat, something to wear, and an increasingly prosperous, prosperous and happier life.

Along with development, many traditional rituals and customs of the K'Ho Sre people are gradually being lost. Therefore, the New Rice Celebration Festival is recreated by artisans from Bo Lieng village (Dinh Van town, Lam Ha district), with the desire to transmit the cultural values, customs and good practices of the organization. leave behind for future generations.

During the New Rice Festival, offerings include can wine, dried fish, salt, sticky rice, fruit and indispensable sacrificial rituals to thank Yang. In a good year, the sacrifices will be buffaloes and pigs; If the harvest is only enough to eat, sacrifice with goats or chickens. Can wine, stream fish, vegetables, and fruits from the home garden are also offered to Yang corresponding to the harvest season.

In the sacred space, the tree is carved, elaborately carved, with unique patterns conveying profound philosophy in the central area of ​​the festival. Village elder K'The blows three blasts on the horn to signal the villagers. .

After the horn sounded, the village elder prayed: “Oh Yang! Hey villagers! Today we gather here to thank Yang and the gods for giving the village a year of good rain, good wind, and lush fields. The rice on the fields is laden with grain, the pigs are as numerous as black ants, and the buffaloes are as numerous as snails in the stream. Hey villagers! Let's come here to celebrate together. Oi Yang!”.

The sacrifice ceremony is a rooster. The village elder uses chicken blood to smear on the tree, gong face, and forehead of participating members, praying for luck, health, and peace for everyone, praying for the next year's farming season. After Yang, the weather will be favorable and the harvest will be bountiful.

Next, the village elder asked Yang to take down the gong set and hand each gong to the members. The gong song "Welcome Guests" is played bustlingly in harmony with the graceful and rhythmic sinus dance of the mountain ladies.

The village patriarch opens a jar of wine, pours wine to offer to Yang and the gods, bends the wine stem to invite guests to drink, and puts copper bracelets and beads on noble guests as souvenirs of the relationship. Along with the melodious melodies of the gongs, the melodies of buffalo skin drums and M'buot pipes blend together to make people feel excited and festive.

Once the alcohol was absorbed, everyone witnessed the "gong fight" performed by elite artists K'Bres and K'Ken, with K'Binh playing the drum to cheer. The mountain girls joined in with a passionate dance and smiles of praise for the winner.

The Lam Dong group's recreation of the New Rice Celebration festival took place true to the original right in the middle of the village where the festival took place. Thereby showing off the cultural and spiritual beauty of the K'Ho people in Lam Dong, which was highly appreciated by the contest.

The Vu