Hanoi (VNA) - Spring is considered the season of festivals for ethnicminority people, and each ethnic group has their own festivals reflecting theircustoms, beliefs and farming practice. However, all of them share the wish forprosperity and happiness in the new year.

New rice festival of Central Highlandspeople
The spring or new rice festival is held by E De, Gia Rai, Ba Na, Xo Dang and M’Nong ethnic groups in the Central Highlands after harvest time towelcome a new year. Dedicated to the god of rice, the festival is usuallyobserved in early lunar New Year to wish for favourable weather for crops. Italso seeks blessings from gods for good health and prosperity for allvillagers. Ritual offerings include newly harvested fragrant rice, ruou can (rice wine drunk from a jar through stalks), a cockerel, a hog and meat of wildanimals.  During the festival, a ritededicated to the god of water is conducted to ask for clean and clear water,implying good health for villagers. On festive days, villagers drink ruoucan and dance to the sounds of gongs.

H’Mong outdoor playing festivity
Gau tao, which means outdoor play in H’Mong language, is the traditionalNew Year festival of the H’Mong. Annually, a H’Mong village willmeet and select a family to host the festival, which is usually held after the secondday of the first lunar month and lasts between one and three days.

On the opening day, the host prepares offerings for a ceremony to showgratitude to the heaven and earth for giving villagers health and children andpray for peace and prosperity for the village. The formality to open thefestival is a pan-pipe dance followed by a singing performance led by some oldmen and the festival owner who is usually a prestigious villager. After that,different activities take place on a big hill, including crossbow shooting, topplaying, danh yen (a game similar to badminton with the shuttlecock madeof bamboo stuck with some feathers), nem pao (transferring a colorfulcloth ball between teams) and gau plenh (love song) singing.

Fire jumping by the Pa Then
Nhay lua (fire jumping), a harvesting festival, is an originalcultural activity of the Pa Then. Held right after Tet (lunar newyear festival), the festivity, which reflects the Pa Then’s strength andwish to conquer nature, aims to win support from the god of fire for favourableweather, bumper crops and happiness. The god of fire is also believed by the PaThen to expel evil spirits and save people from misery, bringing them peaceand prosperity. The festival starts with lighting a fire for a deity worshipingrite conducted by a sorcerer who, surrounded by young men, sits on a bench,beating two iron objects to create repeated sounds. The young men then sit onthe bench in turn, starting to get into a trance. Bending down and shakingtheir bodies, they start jumping and within moments, turning strong and jumpinginto the fire without feeling hot. Some even lay down in the fire beforejumping out. Pa Then people believe the duration a man can jump in afire depends on his strength bestowed by deities, which keeps him from beingburned.

H’Tend, New Year celebration ofthe H’re
H’Tend, the festival of the H’re, who lives mostly incentral Vietnam, takes place in the second or third lunar month. Before H’Tend,people prepare food, clean their homes and villages, set up cay neu (newyear tree) and prepare musical instruments and clothing. On the first day of H’Tend, H’re people conduct a rite to clean their homes, expel evil spirits andreceive fortune and happiness. This rite is followed by an offering ceremony todeities and ancestors who are believed to join family members celebrating thenew year and protect them. After these two rites, villagers make sticky ricecakes and kill pigs and chickens as offerings for a buffalo worshiping ceremonyheld the next day. This ceremony is held at dawn right at the buffalo stall topray for good health for the cattle. After that, people have a party together,drinking ruou can, chatting, playing gongs, dancing and playingtraditional games. On the last day of H’Tend festival, people cleanhomes to welcome guests. During H’Tend, people wish one another goodhealth, success and prosperity.

Muong Bi people start a year with khai ha festival
Khai ha (going down the field) is a big festival of Muong Bi group in Hoa Binh northern mountainous province. Held annually right after Tet to review the old year and mark a new year, the festivity is a chance for MuongBi people to show their respect for gods and pray for a year of peace andprosperity. According to Muong Bi custom, only after khai ha canpeople go down the field to prepare a new crop and go to the forest for huntingand picking up forest products. People attending this festival all bring alonga rice ball. The festival consists of two main parts: the offering ceremonyconducted at the village temple and festive activities. An original trait of khaiha is the formality to repair Lo canal, the one irrigating the wholeregion. Each family sends a member to dredge and clean up the canal. Afterthat, people have a meal together, eating food offerings shared to them anddrinking ruou can. Festive activities open with the gong performance by Muong girls, followed by folk games such as crossbowshooting, tug of war, top playing, sac bua (gong playing)competition and responsive singing.

Xen Ban, Xen Muong, Thai ceremony dedicated to village founders
In the second lunar month, Thai people hold Xen Ban, Xen Muong, one of the group’s biggest festivals in memory of founders of Muong,the land of the Thai. Starting the ceremony is a procession ofthe offering tray from the village head’s home to the communal house. Leadingthe procession are the village head and other dignities, followed by youngpeople carrying four gongs and a drum together with pan-pipes andflutes. Then come old villagers in colourful costumes, bringing bows and arrowsand taking two buffaloes as the sacrifice. Finally are the village’s guardsalso in colourful costumes and red hats, carrying matchlocks, swords and spearson their shoulders. The procession is followed by the sacrifice ceremonyconducted by a sorcerer. After that young people join dancing and singingcontests, archery competition and play nem con. After the festival, Thai people refrain from receiving strangers, farming and going to forest forseveral days. Every house is closed with green tree branches hung outside.

Roong Pooc, biggest festival ofthe Giay
Annually on the day of the dragon of the first lunar month, the Giay in Sa Pa, Lao Cai northern province, opens Roong Pooc(going down thefield), the festival dedicated to the Jade Emperor, fairies and deities,praying for their blessing for prosperity, peace and fine weather throughoutthe year. Giay people believe if they fail to celebrate Roong Pooc ina year, they will encounter numerous difficulties in that year, sufferingmisfortunes such as illness and natural disasters.

Roong Pooc starts with a sorcerer’s ritual offering. The offerings,which symbolize prosperity, include cloth, eggs, bamboo shoots, silver coinsand 6 qua con (cloth ball) made by unmarried girls. Closing the ritual,the sorcerer gives the cloth balls for prestigious old villagers to throw themthrough the ring put on a high bamboo pole. Symbolizing the sun and moon, thisring has one side stuck with red paper and the other with yellow paper. Whenthe ball is thrown through the ring, each family in the village burns incenseon the altar set up for the offering rite to pray for good luck for theirfamily and village. Villagers then play nem con, tug of war andhold a ploughing competition for young men./.