Unique New Rice Family in Thach Dong Village

(Baonghean.vn) - Every year, on the 11th day of the 9th lunar month, after the summer-autumn harvest is completed, the people of Thach Dong village (Quynh Thach commune, Quynh Luu district) are busy preparing for the New Rice Festival.

The New Rice Feast Day is a beautiful cultural tradition that has been preserved for about 600 years, closely associated with the founding of Thach Dong village. On this day, the villagers are busy preparing feasts to bring to their respective clans for the ceremony, which is why the locals call it the New Rice Feast Day.

Mrs. Van Thi Thuc, from Thach Dong village, is preparing the feast. The offerings for the New Year's Ancestor Worship Day cannot be without sticky rice with chicken or pork.

At the end of the 15th century, amidst the Lê-Mạc war, four young men from the North, Nguyễn Sỹ, Hoàng Đình, Hồ Đức, and Nguyễn Đăng, realized that the war only brought suffering and loss to the people. They believed that their participation, whether victorious or defeated, would be a pointless sacrifice. Therefore, they decided to move to Nghệ An to start a new life. In Nghệ An, they settled in Thạch Động, organizing and encouraging people to actively reclaim land and expand cultivated areas. Due to the prolonged war, they established families and lived permanently in Thạch Động.

Around 8 a.m., people began carrying trays of offerings to the ancestral temple to prepare for the ceremony.

However, it was not until the third generation, that of the descendants of the ancestors, that Thach Dong village was officially established. Mr. Hoang Dinh Thiem, Mr. Nguyen Dang Khoat, Mr. Ho Duc Nhuan, and Mr. Nguyen Phuc Thang, representing the descendants of four families, founded Thach Dong village after Mr. Nguyen Phuc Thang, from the Nguyen Sy family, passed the Imperial Examination during the reign of Le Hy Tong (Chinh Hoa era). He was then entrusted by the people with the position of village head. At this time, Thach Dong village has 21 families living together in hamlets 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.

The ceremony was conducted solemnly according to the rituals of each clan. The photo shows a ceremony at the Nguyen Sy clan in Thach Dong village.

The New Rice Offering Ceremony also originated from that era, linked to the pioneering efforts of the descendants of the four families of Nguyen Sy, Hoang Dinh, Ho Duc, and Nguyen Dang in establishing prosperous villages. It has become a beautiful cultural tradition; every year on the 11th day of the 9th lunar month, the descendants of 21 families in Thach Dong village joyfully organize the New Rice Offering Ceremony to express gratitude to their ancestors for their birth, upbringing, and support, which enabled their descendants to grow up and have bountiful harvests. At the same time, the New Rice Offering Ceremony is also an occasion for descendants within the family and village to unite, love, and help each other in life.

Offering tray for the New Rice Festival

The offerings presented to ancestors on this day include sticky rice with chicken and sticky rice with meat. Each person in the clan prepares a tray of offerings to bring to their clan to participate in the ceremony. The people of Thach Dong, originally from an agricultural region, often use the glutinous rice they have grown and harvested to offer to the benevolent deities and ancestors. On this day, even those who work far away arrange to return home to participate in the village's communal festival.

Lan Thai - Hoang Hai