O Du children are brought by their families to the New Year Thunder Festival, where the village shaman performs the official naming ritual. (Photo: VNA)
Adults help children dress in traditional attire before attending the ceremony. (Photo: VNA)
Offerings include boiled chicken, upland sticky rice, liquor, fish, pork, and stream moss salad. (Photo: VNA)
At the end of the ceremony, the shaman, village elders, and respected community members tie threads around the children's wrists, officially naming them and assigning them a family clan. (Photo: VNA)
For the O Du, age is calculated based on the sound of the first thunder each year. (Photo: VNA)
Adults also tie threads on each other's wrists, a symbolic act believed to keep the soul within the body, bring strength, and attract good fortune and success. (Photo: VNA)
Once tied, the thread must be kept on the wrist until the next year’s New Year Thunder Festival. (Photo: VNA)
The New Year Thunder Festival, wrist-tying ceremony, clan naming, and official naming ritual are important traditions, deeply embedded in the rich and distinctive cultural identity of the O Du ethnic group. (Photo: VNA)
Decoding the wrist-tying and naming rituals of the O Du people
For centuries, the O Du ethnic people in Vang Mon Village (Nga My Commune, Nghe An Province) have preserved numerous unique cultural and spiritual practices. Among the most distinctive are the wrist-tying ceremony and the naming ritual, both of which take place during the New Year Thunder Festival (Cham Phtrong). These ceremonies reflect the O Du's harmonious relationship with nature, reverence for their ancestors who founded and defended the village, and gratitude to heaven and earth.
