Sacred ceremony of Chieng Ngam temple

(Baonghean.vn) - Every year, at the beginning of spring, people of Quy Chau district flock to Chieng Ngam temple to attend the ceremony and pray for a peaceful new year.

Chieng Ngam Temple Ceremony

Chieng Ngam is a sacred temple located in Chau Tien commune, Quy Chau district, worshiping three tutelary deities who had the merit of opening the village and establishing the Muong in the ancient land of Quy Chau. Every year, when Spring comes, people of the ancient Chau Quy area (now Nghia Dan, Thai Hoa, Quy Hop, Quy Chau, Que Phong) often gather here to participate in the ceremony, worship with the wish to remember and show gratitude to their ancestors, the people who opened the village and established the Muong; pray for favorable weather, good crops; promise to live and work well to build happiness for their family and homeland.

This year, when Tet has passed but spring is still passionate on the green leaves, it is also the time when the festival season in Quy Chau begins. Among them, Hang Bua Festival is considered the most important festival, the place where the ethnic people here look forward to. In addition to coming to satisfy their wishes of gratitude, hoping to receive strength from their roots to rise up in life; people also come here to enjoy and participate in cultural, artistic and sports activities held during the festival, to interact with friends, meet relatives...

The ceremony took place solemnly and orderly.

This year, the Festival part of Hang Bua festival (Quy Chau) will not be held, so the ceremony to worship the tutelary god of Muong Chieng Ngam is the main activity.

Early in the morning of the great festival day, a large number of people from the two ancient Trung Son and Thuy Van districts came to the high mountain in Hong Tien 2 village where Chieng Ngam Temple resides. They solemnly dressed in traditional costumes, professional costumes, sincerely stepped lightly up the 98 stone steps, then gathered under the hundreds of years old banyan tree right next to the sacred temple. In the open space in front of the temple, which is covered by clouds and rain all year round, the festival organizers arranged gongs, drums, stalls, carving frames, and poles for the Xang Khan ceremony. The view stretched far and wide to the vast space of mountains, hills, rivers, lakes, fields, and villages, and up close were familiar traditional objects, evoking a distant past, touching the hearts of everyone. Here, there was no jostling or the hazy smoke of incense and votive papers, only a sense of self-possession. The small forest next to the temple was filled with the chirping of birds...

Before the ceremony, the women in brocade skirts with silver peaches on their hips, and the strong and handsome men of the 9 villages of Chau Tien carried up the offering trays. The offering trays were rich in local products and dishes. They included boiled chicken, grilled fish, sticky rice, meatballs, rice wine, can wine, oranges, tangerines, and apples. The main dish of the ceremony was buffalo meat. In previous years, when the lives of the people in the area were still difficult, goat meat replaced buffalo meat. In recent years, life has become more prosperous and abundant, and the people in the area resolutely requested to use buffalo meat again according to the old custom. They believe that buffalo is a good animal, and that every year they offer buffalo, that year the weather, the terrain, and the people will all be as they wish.

When the auspicious hour came, the three shamans in charge of the ceremony, including Mr. Sam Van Diep, Lu Minh Phuong, and Luong Minh Phiet, stood in the front row, representing the ethnic people of Quy Chau district, to perform the rituals in front of Chieng Ngam temple. After the incense offering, the three shamans led the delegation of leaders of Quy Chau district and Chau Tien commune - the locality - into the temple.

In the main hall, the main shaman Sam Van Diep, dressed in a silk robe, invited the village guardian spirits who had contributed to the development and construction of the village to their descendants to enjoy the offerings; respectfully hoping that the ancestors would bless their descendants, so that in the new year everyone would be healthy and have good luck to build family happiness and a prosperous village. The ceremony took place solemnly and orderly. The main shaman's prayer was rich in timbre and melody, soaring and majestic.

Xang Khan dance in Chieng Ngam land.

Let's have fun dancing

According to the customs of the Thai Quy Chau people and the unwritten rules of the shamans: The prayer must convey all the wishes of the villagers and must be memorized in advance, deeply imprinted in the shaman's mind.

This year, the Chieng Ngam temple festival was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Nghe An; leaders of the District Party Committee, People's Council, People's Committee, and Fatherland Front Committee of Quy Chau district; representatives of the leaders of Que Phong and Quy Hop districts and a large number of ethnic minorities in Quy Chau and tourists from all over the country.

Mr. Lo Trung Tuyen, Standing Deputy Secretary of Chau Tien Commune, said that at this year's ceremony, the Party Committee and people of the commune promised to be determined to fulfill the socio-economic tasks of 2015; with many specific solutions to increase the growth rate to 25.9%, total production value to over 77 billion VND, striving to complete the new rural targets as planned by the end of 2015...

After the ceremony, the sound of gongs and drums resounded loudly, resounding throughout the mountains, then spreading to distant lands. People attending the ceremony took turns stepping up to light incense sticks respectfully as well as offering some lucky food. Dances and songs were sung to make promises for the next festival season, reminding people of the oath to come to the sacred Chieng Ngam in the early spring morning with the powder of good rain.

Thanh Son - Canh Nam