Vietnam consists of nearly 60 ethnic minorities, each with its own dialects, costumes, religions, and cultures, living scattered over the country. Despite such differences, these ethnic minorities still have something in common to share and enjoy including local festivals. Like many other Asian countries, the Vietnamese start every year with the festival of religious rituals to express their gratefulness and respect to the gods. Being a part of Vietnam, Ha Giang with its minorities has a lot of interesting festivals during the year. And these local events are truly fantastic things to do when travelling to Ha Giang.
Ha Giang Spring Festival
The Dao in Ha Giang regularly holds a spring festival on Lunar New Year to pray for good weather and a bumper crop in the coming year.
In the festival, 4 youths were dressed from four positions to the festival. There is a tray with boiled chicken, square cake, honey rice cake… to worship the gods for peace, prosperity, and happiness. And the sorcerer will represent for the local to read the heaven prayers for good weather, good harvests in the New Year. After the ceremony, the natives enjoy food, local wine and celebrate together.
The Spring Festival in Ha Giang is really a fantastic activity to get into when travelling to this mountainous area.
Ha Giang Forest Festival
Although the PuPeo is an ethnic people in Ha Giang, they still preserved many liturgies and a folklore treasure. Along with other liturgies are held in the New Year, they also held the Forest Festival with the most solemn rites on June 6th lunar calendar to pray for the green of the forest and the peace of their community. They protect the forest because it brings them water for farming and wood for making house and manufacturing.
In the ceremony, the 2-meter-high altar is constructed from green bamboo and face the mountain. All things are display on the forest banana leaves. Under the altar, there are 2 chickens and a female goat which are still alive as sacrificial animals.The ceremony takes place several hours in the forbidden forest, where the sorcerer holds a fresh bamboo waving in all time of liturgy, sometimes he faces a big tree and bow to the ground in order to pray for their village to be protected. This ceremony is divided into three stages in which the first stage, chickens, and goat are still alive, then the youths cut their necks and finally, people have a meal right in the forest. People who cannot attend are still given their slots of food. It shows the respect of human to the god because the PuPeo believes that preserving forest is keeping water.
After that, there are traditional sports activities such as push sticks, tug, playing “ao”… which attract a large number of ethnic groups. Besides, the locals also sing some traditional folk songs to celebrate their festival.
The Forest Festival of the PuPeo in Ha Giang not only brings physical and spiritual value but also contributes to the environment protection.
Ha Giang Fire Dancing Festival
Pa Then ethnic with a population of over 5.000 people in Ha Giang remains many festivals and customs from the past, in which fire dance is the most unique and mysterious. The Fire Dancing Festival, which starts in mid-October lunar calendar and lasts through the Tet, is considered as the new rice festival of the Pa Then.
The rite includes incense, a chicken, 10 cups of wine, paper money. A big fire was burned and the sorcerer begins the rite.
It must have a sorcerer to do liturgy in 1-2 hours before starting fire dance festival. When the sorcerer is playing the instrument, the youths who take part in the festival will sit facing him. After finished the rite, they jump into the fire without fear or sensation. Each of them dances on the fire for 3-4 minutes in one time. One people can dance several times to show his strength and agility. Fire dance is only for Pa Then men and these guys always get the admirations and respects from everyone.
Currently, in the villages of Pa Then, Fire Dancing Festival is still preserved and regularly held on the occasion of Tet. This unique festival will be an amazing experience for tourists come to Ha Giang.
Ha Giang Rain Praying Festival
The Praying for Rain Festival of the Lo Lo is a common religious rite. On this occasion, almost all activities of the Lo Lo are aimed at praying for rain to the MeoVac field to have a bumper crop and an eternal prosperity.The festival is usually held on March only when the weather is harsh or drought appears with typical rituals handed down from generation to generation.
The festival’s objects include a chicken, a dog and one kilogram of rice taken to the house of a sorcerer or village’s chief. To have a successful ritual, the first rite that cannot be denied is a ceremony to ask ancestral sorcerers for aid.
This ritual is quite simple with a cup of water, incense and bamboo paper (a kind of papers that is specially used for sacrifices of the Lo Lo people). First, the sorcerer burns incense at the altar and then, the cup of water and the paper are placed at a corner of the house. After that, the sorcerer starts worshipping. He covers the cup with the bamboo paper; if the water in the cup is not absorbed or poured out of the cup, meaning “permission is granted” and the praying for rain festival will be successful. Finally, the sorcerer burns the bamboo paper and the rite is completed.
The festival consists of two parts: the ceremony and the carnival. The ceremony has the attendance of all villagers. The sacrifices like dogs and chickens will be taken to the praying place with two rites. After being used for worshipping for the first time, their meat will continue being used for the second rite. When the ceremony finished, villagers drink the local wine, enjoy the meat and dance together. Many beautiful Lo Lo women dance in their traditional costumes weaved with colorful patterns. The Lo Lo people believe that after three to nine days from the festival, it will rain.
The rain praying festival is a typical cultural activity bearing unique characteristics of the Lo Lo in Ha Giang. The festival is also an opportunity for villagers to pray for luck, peace and happiness as well as to show their belief in God.
