1. An overview of the Long Tong Festival of the Tay ethnic group - Ha Giang
The Long Tong Festival of the Tay ethnic group - Ha Giang is a very important festival for highland ethnic minorities. A beauty in the culture of the mountainous people, they believe in their gods, they work hard to get sweet fruit at the end of the season. To fully take care of the whole family, they worked hard throughout a hard year and always believed that God would always protect and help them.
The Long Tong Festival of the Tay ethnic group - Ha Giang in recent years has become known to people in the province and outside the province. Other ethnic groups also know that the Long Tong Festival of the Tay ethnic group - Ha Giang will often be held. in Dao Duc commune, Vi Xuyen district, Ha Giang province. The place where people will participate in the ceremony on the best and biggest fields in the village, and then enjoy the Long Tong Festival is right at the empty land at the foot of the hill in front of Sung Khanh Pagoda. With the simple features of the lifestyle of the people here, learning about the unique spiritual cultural features makes the Long Tong Festival of the Tay ethnic group - Ha Giang even more attractive to domestic and foreign tourists. province to attend.
2. Unique features of the Long Tong Festival of the Tay ethnic group - Ha Giang
Ritual part of the Long Tong Festival of the Tay ethnic group - Ha Giang
The Long Tong Festival of the Tay ethnic group in Ha Giang will have a prayer ceremony for favorable weather and good crops performed by priests. The ceremony begins with the Tay ethnic ritual asking the village's Tutelary God to open the festival, thanking Thien Dia, praying to the God of Agriculture, God of Mountains, and God of Streams. During the festival, the ritual of going down to the fields plays an extremely important role. In the first part of the festival, the villagers will choose a man with prestige, an exemplary family and the best plower in the fields. Will represent the people in the village plowing the first plow into the field, considered lucky, the harvest will be rich and smooth.
The best plowman will be selected to hoe the first fields
After this ceremony, the villagers will continue to choose a beautiful and spacious field and begin to arrange offerings to the gods on an offering table with many prepared offerings such as: meat, poultry, and livestock that the villagers The village has raised food, wine, traditional cakes, and five-colored sticky rice symbolizing heaven and earth, yin and yang harmony. According to the annual custom of the Long Tong Festival of the Tay ethnic group - Ha Giang, each village will choose 4 families to "bring out the tray", meaning the master of ceremonies will be in charge of arranging the sacrifices on the tray and catching them. The first ceremony is to worship heaven, earth, and gods at the festival. Depending on the economic conditions of each family, the feast can be large or small, but the must-have offerings are chicken, pork, sticky rice, and eggs.
A gong and drum will be sounded and the master of ceremony along with representatives of villages and families will conduct a ceremony to pray for a good and bountiful harvest. The master of ceremonies must be someone chosen by the predecessors, meaning that the master of ceremonies continues the tradition from a previous master of ceremonies and at the same time is respected and humbled by the villagers. The master of the ceremony will represent the villagers and read prayers with the content of praying for the gods to bless the country and the people, good weather and wind, the proliferation of all things, good harvests, and the lives of the villagers. The people are well-fed, prosperous, and have happy homes...
After reading the prayers, Master Mo will perform the worship by splashing "holy water" - this water is brought back from the source by the most beautiful mountain girls in the village. Legend has it that whoever catches the "holy water" will have good luck throughout the year. Finally, Master Mo will read prayers and pray to the God of Agriculture, God of Mountains, God of Streams... the gods who protect the crops, health and peace of the villagers.
Festival at the Long Tong Festival in Ha Giang
After the ceremony performed by the shaman and the family heads, the next part will be the festival of the Tong Tong Festival of the Tay ethnic group in Ha Giang. This is considered the part that attracts the most tourists because they get to be close to the villagers and have fun with the villagers. Folk games bear the mark of highland people: bird's nest fighting, spinning, shuttlecock throwing, tug of war, answering competitions or plowing competitions,... in which games attract the majority of tourists. The most important thing is the shuttlecock throwing game.
Throwing is also a very popular game in traditional village festivals of the villagers. It will be played in a quite spacious area and built by a towering bamboo tree, and a circle will be placed in the area. above to throw. The winner's task is to throw the shuttlecock and hit the circle hanging on the high top. The Tay people also believe that if the shuttlecock hits the finish line and causes the cloth wrapped on it to tear, then that year all people in the village will be protected, blessed by gods, and everything will go smoothly. luck is near.
If you don't throw the shuttlecock and tear the cloth, then the villagers will have bad luck or disaster that year. While the throwing game is still full of fun, the plowing competition of the strong young men in the village is also of interest because the fastest and most energetic plower will be found. In addition, the Long Tong Festival of the Tay ethnic group in Ha Giang is also a place for boys and girls to meet, chat, and make love through traditional songs, dances, and songs of the Tay ethnic group.