How do the Khmu people celebrate Tet?
(Baonghean.vn) - Every year, after harvesting crops, around the 11th and 12th lunar months, Khmu families in Huoi Thum village, Na Ngoi commune (Ky Son, Nghe An) choose a good day to hold the Gro ceremony.
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| The Gr Festival is the biggest festival of the year for the Khmu people, with deep spiritual and religious significance. It is an occasion for descendants to offer offerings to their ancestors, inviting them to celebrate the New Year with their descendants; to bid farewell to the old year along with all the bad luck, sickness, and disease, and to welcome the new year with good luck, good health, prosperous business, family harmony, and prosperity. The ceremony takes place with the participation of relatives and villagers. Photo: Thanh Cuong |
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Offerings for the Gro Festival only include foods produced by the family itself such as sweet potatoes, taro, yams, squash, etc., which are brought home and cooked to offer to the ancestors. In addition, a pair of chickens (1 male, 1 female) is indispensable. Photo: Thanh Cuong |
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| When it was time for the ceremony, everyone in the family gathered at the ancestral altar, near the jar of rice wine. The host used a knife to cut the chicken's lips to let the blood flow out, then prayed and smeared the chicken's blood on the family members' feet. Photo: Thanh Cuong |
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| Smear from the knee down to the ankle, from the youngest to the oldest person, and finally the hostess will smear it on the master. Photo: Thanh Cuong |
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| While smearing the chicken blood, the host prays for everyone in the family to be healthy and lucky, and for the ancestors to bless them... the people attending the ceremony also pray along with the host, wishing blessings, luck, and health for everyone in the house. 2 chickens are slaughtered for the ceremony. Photo: Thanh Cuong |
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| Then, the host sat next to the jar of wine, the hostess held a buffalo horn to add water to the wine, the host took out a pair of bamboo chopsticks, with one hand he screwed the two wine rods, with the other hand he used chopsticks to pick up the wine residue from the jar,... Photo: Thanh Cuong |
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| ... feeding through a hole in the floor implies inviting parents to come home to celebrate Tet and drink rice wine. While feeding, he prays to invite parents to drink rice wine and celebrate Tet with their children and grandchildren, praying for parents to bless their children and grandchildren with good health, family harmony, and prosperity in business. When the owner begins to pray, the elderly and adults also pray to pray for their ancestors to bless the homeowner. Photo: Thanh Cuong |
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After the ceremony, everyone drank rice wine and cooked roots and fruits together. First, the host invited the elders and dignitaries in the village, then the others. Those invited to drink all screwed the rice wine tube, thanked the host and prayed for the health of their children and grandchildren, and good luck in the new year. Then everyone sitting around also prayed... the host also responded with thanks, then drank rice wine together. Photo: Thanh Cuong |
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| The homeowner burns cotton to end the ceremony of inviting grandparents and ancestors to celebrate Tet. Photo: Thanh Cuong |
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After inviting ancestors and grandparents to celebrate Tet, the homeowner gathers all children and grandchildren to sit around the offering tray to hold a ceremony to pray for the souls and make offerings. The homeowner opens the sticky rice press, rolls the sticky rice into small pieces the size of a fingertip, dips it in the offerings, and sticks it on the hair of the children and grandchildren, in order from youngest to oldest, each person gets 2 pieces of sticky rice, and prays for the children and grandchildren to be healthy, not sick, to bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new year. While the homeowner prays, everyone participating also prays in unison, asking the gods and ancestors to bless the homeowner with health and luck. Photo: Thanh Cuong |
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| The Khmu people's Gr ceremony is held to see off the old year, the risks and illnesses of the old year, and to welcome the new year with the wish for good health, no illness, and prosperity in business. It is an occasion for everyone in the family to reunite and remember their ancestors. It is a traditional ritual with deep spiritual beliefs of the Khmu people, demonstrating the community and solidarity of people in the family, clan, and village. Photo: Thanh Cuong |
