With 25 ethnic groups living together, the Spring festivals of Lao Cai are diverse and imbued with the cultural identities of the highland ethnic groups, including the Down to the Field Festival, also known as the Spring Festival. Long Tong Festival of the Tay ethnic group, the Roong pooc festival of the Giay… to pray for a bountiful harvest, peaceful people, prosperous animals, favorable rain, and harmonious wind.
Plow roads open the Spring Festival
It has become a custom, every January Dragon day, the Tay and Giay people in Ta Van (Sa Pa), Quang Kim (Bat Xat), Giang (Van Ban) villages excitedly organize the Downing Festival with the locals. The rituals of erecting a pole, tug of war, throwing a pole, a buffalo plow contest… are symbolic of fertility, yin and yang, and harmony.
The most prominent part of the festival is the plowing road of the fat buffaloes in the village. This activity is likened to the ritual of “naturalization” of the Northwest highlands, creating a joyful and exciting atmosphere and attracting tourists to Lao Cai.
After the ceremony, when the games in the festival part gradually come to an end, the village elders make vows and lower the remaining pillars. That is also the time when healthy young people and buffaloes were chosen to plow 5 “down to the field” lines, symbolizing the beginning of a new crop.
With the enthusiastic cheers of the audience, the participants tried to control the buffalo to plow quickly, with a straight and beautiful plow path.
The magician Lieng A Sinh (Ta Van, Sa Pa) said this ritual is very important because the people believe that the winner with a straight plow will bring luck to the village.
From the plowing roads to open the Spring Festival, the villagers can go to the fields to cultivate new crops, go to the fields to sow seeds… After the ceremony is over, the buffaloes return to their owners, diligently going to the fields.
The symphony of cultural heritages
Lao Cai is one of the leading localities in the country in terms of the number of recognized heritage sites with nearly 40 . cultural heritage national level intangible and some representative heritage of humanity.
With unique cultural and spiritual values imbued with tradition, nearly half of the cultural heritages in Lao Cai are Spring festivals or a ceremony in the Spring festival.
Among them, Field Festival of the Tay people in Trung Do village (Bao Nhai commune, Bac Ha district) with the tug-of-war ceremony – a type of ritual that has been registered by UNESCO as the Representative Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity since 2015.
According to legend, during the reign of King Le Chieu Tong (1516-1522), the villagers of Trung Do village and the whole Tay ethnic group in Bac Ha under the leadership of National Duke Vu Van Mat (1493-1571) organized many protests against defeat the border invaders. Therefore, the tug of war ritual was restored and practiced every year to commemorate the merits of National Duke Vu Van Mat and the generals.
[Đảm bảo lễ hội Xuân Quý Mão 2023 diễn ra an toàn, văn minh]
Currently, tug-of-war rituals are still held regularly during the festival of the field. In the resounding drums, boisterous cheers, the “harvesting” tug of war festival, the festival of victory over foreign invaders is always re-enacted, reminding children and grandchildren to preserve traditional culture, attract the attention of a large number of people and tourists from all over the world.
In addition, national intangible cultural heritages in Lao Cai such as: “Roong pooc” festival of Giay people in Ta Van (Sa Pa), Gau Tao festival of H’mong people, Putong festival, festival The level of color, the fire dance festival of the Red Dao people, the art of the (dance) of the Tay people in Ta Chai, the Thuong Temple festival in Lao Cai city… are all the biggest Spring festivals of the year in each location. means to commemorate heroes, ancestors, pray for good luck…
Folk artist Lo Lai Suu said that each festival resonates with many types of performances of each ethnic group such as dance, drums, gongs, trumpets, folk songs, etc. unique for the ceremony, becoming a sacred chorus of the intangible cultural heritages in the remote region of Lao Cai.
In the economic development orientation, Lao Cai identifies tourism as a key economic sector to create breakthroughs. According to Director of the Department of Tourism Ha Van Thang, intangible cultural heritages are an extremely valuable resource for sustainable tourism development, contributing to the creation of unique, unique and attractive tourism products. attract tourists to the locality.
Huong Thu (VNA/Vietnam+)