For fellow O Du people, the beginning of a new year, the beginning of the planting season is when the first thunder roars in the sky. Thunder associated with all activities, with sacred rituals. In the traditional cultural treasures of the O Du people, there is a tradition that still remains today is the celebration of thunder.
Thunder in O Du's life
Experiencing ups and downs of history, O Du people in Vang Mon village (Nga My commune, Tuong Duong district, Nghe An) had to make a living to languish and preserve ancient cultural capital. As a minority, the life of O Du people is very difficult, from the ancient O Du people relied on the phenomena of nature to determine the time. They do not follow a regular schedule but rely on the thunder. Talking with us, Mr. Lo Xuan Tinh - Party cell secretary of Nga My commune said: “Previously, in the old days, our ancestors did not have watches and calendars like now, so we could only rely on the thunder. to guess the time. When the thunder comes, the new year comes, and the next thunder will end a year. ”
Among the oldest traditions of the O Du people, the celebration of the New Year thunder is the most sacred festival of the year. When gongs were lifted up, the people gathered in the village to slaughter buffaloes and slaughter the sacrificial pigs, wishing for a peaceful and prosperous new year ... The first rite of the day was thunder. ordained, ordained for dignitaries in the village, such as chiefs, elders, ordained masters, and renamed adult men. When a child is born, he has to wait until he hears the first thunder to be named, starting to calculate his age. O Du people depend on the thunder, from birth to death, they must also wait for the thunder. Only when there was thunder could their soul be considered transcendent. In the O Du family, when the unfortunate wife or husband died, they had to perform a sacrifice ceremony and cried for the dead. In addition to the offering tray, the most important thing is to have a coin divided into two. Half of the survivors keep the other half buried with the deceased. If the deceased's spouse wants to take another step, they must also wait for the first year's thunder. There was a thunderstorm, we just started the ceremony, we asked for permission from the deceased to go on.
Celebration of thunder
The New Year of the Thunder (Cham Tet Festival) is the only ancient custom kept by the O Du people with the desire to have a good rainy year to facilitate the cultivation and hunting. For the O Du ethnic group, the New Year thunder festival is the biggest New Year's day of the year so the whole village is very solemn, killing buffaloes, slaughtering pigs and eating spirit ...
Mr. Lo Van Thai - Chief of Vang Mon Village said: In the days of Cham Phtrong, on the altar of O Du family's family is decorated very picky and colorful with full of colorful paper. However, the red color does not appear in the New Year, because they are afraid of fire.
On the occasion of the Cham Phtrong Tet holiday, O Du people choose a pig to worship for their ancestors, depending on the family's situation, butchering big or small pigs (usually from 15-20kg). When slaughtering pigs, O Du families had to invite villagers to attend and drink alcohol to celebrate with. This is considered an opportunity for homeowners to thank relatives and neighbors in the village for helping the family for the past one year. Besides, each O Du family must prepare a castrated rooster. The rooster will be slaughtered for worshiping, and the legs of the chicken are kept carefully to see the chicken feet. These chicken feet, after worshiping to the ancestors, the families will bring to the community thanks to the best teachers in the village to visit the chicken feet. In the opinion of the O Du people, watching the chicken feet at the beginning of the year is to see a new year to be full, happy or not Because also according to the O Du people, after the first thunder of the five animals calling for the first chicken. Therefore, chickens are considered the god of thunder sent messages in the early days of the year. In addition, the indispensable dishes in O Du people 's trays are fish growing (a mixture of fish, glutinous rice flour, salt, lemongrass, forest pepper wrapped in banana leaves and cooked on wood stoves); grilled fish; Mouse rats (made from dried hamster meat along with forest vegetables, banana flowers, leaf leaves ...); Lam rice; Chung cake; Wine; super wine (from glutinous rice fields and leavened leaves); marbles. The sacrifices were put on 2 rattan trays by people from the floor to the yard in front of the floor. salt, lemongrass, pepper forest wrapped in banana leaves and left to ripen on wood stoves); grilled fish; Mouse rats (made from dried hamster meat along with forest vegetables, banana flowers, leaf leaves ...); Lam rice; Chung cake; Wine; super wine (from glutinous rice fields and leavened leaves); marbles. The sacrifices were put on 2 rattan trays by people from the floor to the yard in front of the floor. salt, lemongrass, pepper forest wrapped in banana leaves and left to ripen on wood stoves); grilled fish; Mouse rats (made from dried hamster meat along with forest vegetables, banana flowers, leaf leaves ...); Lam rice; Chung cake; Wine; super wine (from glutinous rice fields and leavened leaves); marbles. The sacrifices were put on 2 rattan trays by people from the floor to the yard in front of the floor.
The assembly was opened with joyful and bustling sounds. The festival's host, along with the participants, enjoyed the offering and danced to the traditional tunes of the O Du people. In the days of Cham Pht, O Du people are still busy with the joyful sound of gong musical instruments, crystal instruments, drums and musical instruments made from bamboo. New year fun games such as fighting, cock fighting, walking on stilts ...
Often the celebration of O Du thunder lasts from 5 to 7 days, until all the procedures of worshiping the god of thunder in the village are completed, the New Year of Cham Phtrong ends. But now O Du people only organize within a day.
Conservation challenges
In recent years, Tuong Duong district's Culture and local government is in the process of researching, exploring and preparing steps for the restoration of the Thunder Festival at the beginning of the year (Cham Phtrong) - a special festival. colors with many contents showing the unique cultural characteristics of the O Du ethnic group.
At present, people in Vang Mon village are looking forward to the New Year Thunder Festival to be restored and held regularly. To preserve this unique custom requires the cooperation of all levels and functional branches. Mr. Lo Van Toi said: “In the past, we had to wait for thunder, but nowadays there must be the support and assistance of all levels and branches, because we also do not remember any recording any more. This restored ceremony is a great joy for our O Du people. ”
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