Festival on Muong Chieng Ngam land

(Baonghean) - The land of Quy Chau is filled with joyful festival days filled with the sound of gongs. In that joyful atmosphere, along with the promise to the mountains and rivers, from February 11-13, 2012, the Bua Cave Festival was solemnly organized by Quy Chau district.

Now it is early spring, the weather in Quy Chau is warm, the trees and fields are lush and green. Preparations for the new crop and gardens have been completed early, the fertile land of Muong Chieng Ngam is in a big festival.

From early this morning, on the winding asphalt roads, winding mountain roads and dirt roads, the villagers were bustling with people, girls dressed in traditional Thai costumes with lace, boys carrying flutes and pipes heading towards Pha En mountain range in Hong Tien village, Chau Tien commune, where the Bua Cave Festival is held - a big festival of the Quy Chau community.

Like everyone else, today, 90-year-old Lu Khuyen, from Hong Tien 2 village, woke up at 5 a.m., put on her best outfit that she carefully kept for the Bua Cave festival, brought along betel and areca nuts, and went to the neighbors to invite her friends and grandchildren to go with her.

Cultural program in the Festival.

On the main festival day of Bua on the morning of February 12, according to the ancient ceremony, the organizing committee, delegations, tourists and people from 12 communes and towns in the district came to offer incense and perform the Great Sacrifice ceremony at the Temple of Thanh Hoang Muong Chieng Ngam - a temple with a long history worshiping 3 Thanh Hoang Mr. Xieu Bo, Xieu Ke and Xieu Luong, the ancestors who had the merit of founding the Muong.

The Great Ceremony with the spiritual part of the ceremony was organized according to the traditional customs of the Thai ethnic group. Under the shade of the ancient fig tree next to the Temple, people respectfully offered incense amidst the bustling sound of gongs and drums. After the ceremony, shaman Lu Van Dung distributed blessings, gave the ceremony, and everyone came forward to drink a sip of rice wine and eat some sticky rice.

Shaman Lu Van Dung happily said: The ceremony expresses the gratitude of the descendants to the gods and ancestors; during the ceremony, wishes for favorable weather, a happy and prosperous life, and the increasingly prosperous development of the homeland were sent to the gods... Next to the sacred temple, the festival began with cultural activities such as bamboo dancing, throwing balls, and carving beds. The young people happily participated, the kind-hearted old people smiled, daydreaming about the dances and love songs of the festival.

At 9:00 a.m., the Bua Cave Festival officially opened with the presence of tens of thousands of tourists and local people. The performances of singing and dancing showed the sincerity and respect for the origin of national cultural identity and the close friendship of near and far people. The opening speech of the festival, presented by the Chairman of the District People's Committee, Tran Van Chuong, affirmed that the Bua Cave Festival will always have a strong vitality in the flow of the original culture, deeply rooted in the consciousness of every Quy Chau resident in particular and the ethnic people of the Northwest of Nghe An in general.

After the resounding drumbeat of comrade Lang Van Chien - Secretary of the District Party Committee, the festival took place with many cultural programs, singing, bamboo dancing, carving, gongs; culinary culture competition; beautiful camping competition; Thai writing competition; wine performance combined with Nhuon and Xuoi singing between traditional cultural clubs; embroidery and spinning competition; incense rolling competition; ethnic costume performance, Bua Cave Beauty and campfire. Sports activities included volleyball, football, crossbow shooting, stick pushing, tug of war, ring-jumping, swinging, playing to le, walking on stilts, throwing con...

In front of Bua cave, associated with the legends and miracles of the battle between the Mountain God (Phi - Nu - Pha - Hung) and the Water God (Phi - Nam - Huoi Ha), of the love story of Tao Khun Tinh and Ni, festival activities took place on a spacious, high, flat land; amidst the excited cheers of all the people.

On this side is a volleyball match between Chau Hoi and Tan Lac Town teams, on the other side is a culinary culture competition of 12 communes and towns. The trays of food with many traditional dishes of the Thai people offered on the holiday are grilled fish, sour meat, sticky rice, bamboo rice, tea cooked in meter tubes, making many participants and witnesses of the competition remember the familiar flavors of Tet. Here is the competition of weaving bamboo and rattan items, beautiful baskets and bags are born one by one under the hands of skillful craftsmen. In the distance are the exciting football matches; Thai girls in indigo skirts show off their archery skills. The ball is thrown through the hoop but is not caught by any girl's arm, falling to the green grass; the boy's face is red, shyly getting to know the girl he is meeting for the first time.

The sounds of the Khen, Pi, as well as the Nhuon, Xuoi, On, Oi, and Giao Duyen songs, combined with new melodies, created a pleasant, noisy atmosphere typical of the festival. The children held the hands of the elderly and went to see the photo exhibition of the district's economic and social development, went into Bua cave, under the stalactites to find traces of their ancestors, then came out and mixed in with countless colorful stalls and festivals. Under the shadow of the mountain, little Vi Thi Hien, a 7th grade student from Nat Tren village, Chau Hoan commune, was taken by her parents to the festival, mumbling beautiful words and meanings in Thai on the cards carefully written by the members of the Thai Ancient Culture Club. Hien said: "My house is more than 30 km away from here, but every year my parents let me go to the festival. Through this festival, I get to know more about my hometown and my people, meet many new friends, and many strange things that I have never seen before. In the future, I want these festivals to last forever...".

In the tents built in the style of stilt houses, people toasted each other with a cup of wine at the beginning of spring; jars of carefully brewed rice wine were brought out to treat friends who had just arrived from far away. They were special guests from the working delegation of two districts that were sister to Quy Chau district, Tra Bong and Tay Tra, Quang Ngai province; Nhu Thanh, Nhu Xuan, Thuong Xuan districts - Thanh Hoa province; representatives of districts and towns, and many tourists from all over. The performance expressed the special hospitality of the people of Quy Chau, the land of Muong Chieng Ngam will be rich thanks to the labor, sweat, hearts and minds of the residents... The scent of incense burned by the agarwood-producing villages of Tan Lac town was fragrant and lingering. Mr. Nguyen Van Thinh (Tra Bong district) confided: "Coming here, we feel like we are returning to our homeland. Who knows, maybe in the group of people who happily crossed the sea to open up the land and country, creating Quang Ngai in the past, there were my ancestors. Quang Ngai - Nghe An, Tra Bong - Quy Chau are far apart geographically but have the same soul and revolutionary tradition. Quy Chau and Tra Bong are still poor districts, we will learn and exchange experiences and good models with each other to develop the economy and improve our lives."

This year's Hang Bua beauties are radiant in their festival costumes, with headscarves, flowing hair, silver peaches on their waists, and sparkling bracelets. Everyone is knowledgeable and well-versed in the customs, traditions, history, and landmarks of their homeland... Truong Mai Trang from Tan Lac Town, a final-year student at the Trade Union University, participated in and won second prize in the 2012 Hang Bua Beauty Contest and said: "We are always proud of the good cultural values ​​of our nation and homeland. Participating in this contest, I tell myself that this is a good opportunity to improve my own knowledge as well as the general awareness of all people. Thai girls are all beautiful, virtuous, and talented...".

Being absorbed in enjoying and admiring the festival, Mr. Tran Son Lam, a tourist from Hanoi, tiredly watched the flying cones and forgot to take souvenir photos. Mr. Lam said that he had never seen a festival as colorful as this place. After the festival, he would visit Ton That, Voi Cave, Tham Om Cave, and climb Pha Xang Mountain... As the night fell, the festival seemed even more intoxicating and sparkling under the myriad of electric lights. Tomorrow, under the ruby ​​dawn, the joy of the festival would surely follow everyone to the distant villages.

Thanh Chung - Thu Huong