New rice offering ceremony of Ede ethnic minority people
The innocent concept and feeling, along with the life of the majestic mountains and forests has formed in the life of the Ede ethnic minority group in the Central Highlands the New Rice Offering Ceremony on the first lunar month.
The Central Highlands include: Kon Tum, Gia Lai, Dak Lak, Dak Nong and Lam Dong provinces being the common roof of the ethnic minority peoples such as: E De, Gia Rai, xu Dang, M’Nong… The Central Highland has been famous thousands of years ago with the epics Dam San, Xinh Nha… From their traditional cultural sources, Ede ethnic groups have tempered and preserved many special customs and traditions of their people through thousands of years of history preserving their rich cultural heritage their ethnic identity…
One of the typical cosmic images of the Ede people is Giang and the gods
Having lived close to nature, relying on the wilderness for thousands of years, in the Ede consciousness there is still the image of a mysterious universe, faraway but very close. One of the typical cosmic images of the Ede people is Giang and the gods (god of the river, god of the mountain, god of the moon…)
The innocent concept and feeling, along with the life in the forests and majestic mountains the wilderness has formed in the Ede ethnic group in the Central Highlands the new rice offering ceremony. This ceremony comes from the fact of the climate with two distinct seasons, the rainy and dry seasons in the Central Highlands and the practice of rice cultivation of the local ethnic groups.
The New Rice Offering Ceremony is usually held at the end of the dry season (at about the beginning of the 3rd lunar month)
Especially when it doesn’t rain or if the rainy season comes late. The venue of the ceremony is usually located at the house of the owner of the water wharf…
Before the ceremony, the people in the village often discuss to have unanimous agreement on the manner and content of the ceremony The role of village chief is very important. The usual offerings are pork, wine, meat In this custom people usually embank a mound in front of the house of the owner and around the mound they arrange ong-handle axes and cups of water…
In the Ede’s viewpoint, they do so for the purpose of praying heaven and earth to endow them with easy rain. For those who have attended the festival, it is hard to forget the fun atmosphere of a folk festival of Ede people. And specially impressive is the sound of gongs rattling people’s heart sometimes rhythmical, sometimes slow, bringing the sound of the working life in the wilderness; the sound that anyone who may have heard once could not forget.
According to the village chiefs: On the day of the new rice offering ceremony, the whole village is excited, and thrilled; Everyone wants to join, to contribute to the ceremony, not only material but also spiritual contribution. But for some reason, if they cannot attend, then when the ceremony is concluded, people also share the offerings to them to bring back home.
It can be said that the new rice offering ceremony of the Ede in the Central Highlands is the festival of the whole village in the central highlands, it is a traditional folk festival bearing the cultural identity of an ethnic community having long-standing traditions and culture on the land of the legendary Central Highlands.
By Quang Binh
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