On the occasion of the Chinese New Year, villages all over Vietnam are filled with the "atmosphere" of the Spring Festival, and the time, etiquette, customs, and food of different ethnic groups for the Spring Festival are also different, forming a colorful Spring Festival painting.
The traditional Spring Festival of the Mongolian compatriots in Muzhou County and even Son Luo Province is generally one month earlier than the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, so in the past few days, the Mongolian compatriots in Chenghei Township, Muzhou County are happily welcoming the traditional New Year.
There are 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam, each with different customs, etiquette and clothing for the Spring Festival, each with its own characteristics, but they all carry a common wish, that is, everyone lives a happy life, good weather, abundant grains, good luck and good luck.
Although the Buddha bathing festival is held on the last day of the traditional Khmer New Year (chol chnam thmay), it is the most meaningful ritual for the Khmer people. Photo from Vietnam News Agency
Colorful and full of New Year's flavor
When the Thai compatriots celebrate the Spring Festival, in addition to various traditional rituals during the Spring Festival such as sacrificing ancestors, the indispensable thing is the gong and drum troupe in each village.
When the Thai compatriots celebrate the Spring Festival, in addition to various traditional rituals during the Spring Festival such as sacrificing ancestors, the indispensable thing is the gong and drum troupe in each village.
In Nghi Lu City, Yen Bai Province, every Thai person has a set of gongs and drums, which are hung in a large courtyard when the Spring Festival comes, and this courtyard is chosen as an entertainment place for the villagers. The sound of gongs and drums resounded throughout the village from the first moment of the new year, warmly welcoming the arrival of spring. In the first few days of the Spring Festival, people go to pay New Year's greetings during the day, and bring gongs and drums to the courtyard at night, gather together, sing duets together, beat gongs and drums, etc.
For the Hani people, the Hushi Tea Festival is the most important festival of the year. Artist Bao Yin Xin (P d n Xinh) from T k Kh village, Sín th U commune, Mong Nh district, Dien Bien province, said that the Hani compatriots celebrate the tea festival at the lake just like the Kinh people celebrate the Spring Festival. However, the Hushi Tea Festival was held earlier than the Spring Festival of the Jing people. The Hushi Tea Festival is generally held in December of the solar calendar, and when the field work is over, the Hani people choose the best day of the month - Chenri to hold the Hushi Tea Festival to celebrate the harvest and pray for good luck and good luck in the new year.
The Hani people's Lake Tea Festival starts early in the morning. First of all, the women of the village make rice balls and offer them to the gods, asking the gods to allow them to slaughter pigs for the festival. When the lake tea festival is celebrated, every household of the Hani compatriots has to slaughter pigs, and use pig liver to see the good luck and evil of the year.
When the lake tea festival is celebrated, every household of the Hani compatriots has to slaughter pigs, and use pig liver to see the good luck and evil of the year. Photo from Vietnam News Agency
After slaughtering the pig and looking at the liver, the head of the house takes a small part of each part of the pig's body and uses it to cook porridge to worship the ancestral gods, praying for a bumper harvest, healthy cattle and good luck for the family. Subsequently, the family gathered for dinner to welcome the New Year, and then went to the homes of relatives and friends to pay New Year's greetings. As night fell, gongs and drums were noisy, and the villagers held hands and danced around the fire until late at night. The Hani people's Hushi Tea Festival lasts for three days.
Celebrate Chinese New Year in a variety of ways
Tran Yen Son, president of the Vietnam Institute of Applied Folklore, revealed that different ethnic minorities in Vietnam celebrate the Spring Festival in three ways according to the specific time of their ethnic group and the traditional calendar.
In the first way, ethnic minorities celebrate the traditional Spring Festival (New Year's Day). Those are the Mang, Tu, Zhe, Mang, Kang and so on in the northwest region, the Odu (u) in Nghe An province, the Dai Yi, Tai, Nong, and Son Chak in the northeast region, and the Hua, Ai, Shanyu, and Fula in Lao Cai province. These ethnic groups still retain their traditional customs, but the time of the Spring Festival coincides with that of the Jing people.
The Monon people hold a prayer ceremony for the whole village to pray for peace, and the Ma people hold a ceremony to worship the god of rice (yang koi). Photo from Vietnam News Agency
In the second way, each ethnic group celebrates the Spring Festival according to its own calendar. It is the Nào P Tr U festival of the Mangs in the northwest and central parts of the country, the Hani Hua tea festival in Laizhou Province and Dien Bien Province, the Y la Lóng festival of the Gong people in Dien Bien Province, and the Kuchu (kh x) festival in Lahu Province in Laizhou Province.
In the third way, various ethnic groups such as the Jialai, Edi, and Ba Na ethnic groups in the Changshan and Xiyuan regions do not have the concept of the day of the Spring Festival, and they celebrate the Spring Festival for a long time, from the first month of each year to March.
Chen Youshan revealed that in the Xiyuan area, almost everyone in the local area uses the lunar calendar. Every year after the dry season, the first rain of the year accompanied by thunder heralds the coming of the rainy season (the end of February, the beginning of March) of the rainy season, and they all regard it as the beginning of a new year.
At this time, each ethnic group celebrates the Spring Festival in its own unique way. The Sedan people hold a sink restoration ceremony and a water drop festival (on tr knengtea). The Monong people hold a prayer ceremony for the whole village to pray for peace, and the Ma people hold a ceremony to worship the rice god (yang koi).
In addition to the above three ways, the Dawu and Bru-Yunqiao ethnic groups used to celebrate the Spring Festival in the dry season like various ethnic groups in the Xiyuan region, but for decades they have passed the double Spring Festival, that is, the Jing Spring Festival and their unique traditional Spring Festival.
The Spring Festival includes a series of characteristic ceremonial and cultural activities that take place during the transition from the old year to the new year, according to the different calendars of each ethnic group. This is a special cultural event, reflecting the diversity of national culture, which is fully reflected in the time of the event, various etiquette, customs, food, clothing, etc. In addition, the Spring Festival has always been closely related to religious and cultural life.