Spring festivals in western Nghe An

Muong Ham Association

The Thai people have a belief in the origin, the concept of all things having spirit - all things and phenomena have "spiritual spirits" to create spiritual support. Each person has thousands of spirits, each mountain, river, village, tree, has a sacred "owner spirit". Worshiping spirits and festivals are essentially to pray for all good things, people to be in harmony with nature, to live in solidarity and love, to have a past and a future, to have morality between generations and to honor the merits of ancestors.

Northwest Nghe An has long been famous for its rice granaries such as "Tong Phuong", Chau Quang, Chau Cuong (Quy Hop), Muong Mieng, Muong Pon, Muong Chieng Ngam (Quy Chau), Muong Nooc, Tien Phong (Que Phong). That proves that the Thai people have had a wet rice civilization since ancient times. The names of the fields have entered the folk songs of the people. Until today, although there are new irrigation systems such as Ke Coc, Muong Cuong, Tong Huong, we still see water wheels diligently bringing cool water to the fields; in spring, people often invite each other to visit caves, waterfalls, temples and enjoy festivals.

According to field documents, the Nine-room Temple in Que Phong (Ten cau hoong) was established by the Lo Kam family for more than 17 generations. This family migrated from the Northwest of Vietnam to Laos and then drifted to the Phu Quy area. Previously, the temple was built in Pu Cho Nha in Chau Kim commune, Que Phong district, then moved to Pom Ten hill (Dean mountain). There are many different reasons for the move, but according to one hypothesis, the Muong lord at that time was Tao Hien, a descendant of Lo Y, who was a royal lineage in the capital Luong Pha Bang (Laos), was persecuted by his brother and drifted to Muong Que, was saved by the crow god, and established Muong Ton (the original Muong). Later, the Muong land flourished and was divided into many large Muongs such as Muong Noc, Muong Cho Le, Muong Quang, Muong Mun, Muong Hin, Muong Kat, (in Que Phong). Muong Chieng Ngam, Muong Mieng, Muong Pon (Phu Bang) (belonging to Quy Chau district) Muong Ham (belonging to Quy Hop district). Each Muong village has a Chau Muong (Muong Lord) to govern and in the Muong village aristocracy there are Taos. Each Muong village has its own legend and anecdote. Muong Ham (also known as Muong Ham - Tuc Cheng, today belonging to Chau Cuong commune, Quy Hop district) is said to have "Muong Ham mi Xam xip Tao" (Muong Ham has 30 Taos), when sitting down to drink alcohol it is not fun because everyone is a Tao, a noble class so no one serves anyone.

In the past, each worship occasion at the Nine-room Temple, each Muong had to contribute 10 buffaloes and the ceremony lasted for many days. When the temple was moved to Pom Ten hill, the number of buffaloes for worship was reduced, each Muong only contributed one. Only Muong Nooc (Muong Ton) contributed silver buffaloes, while the other Muongs contributed black buffaloes. Therefore, in front of the Nine-room Temple hall, there is a statue of nine buffaloes lying next to nine pots and cauldrons preparing to pay homage to the nine Tao Quan - the patron saints who founded the nine villages. And the temple is also called Nine-room (Cau hoong). The first part of the ceremony at this Temple is the worship of the mountain god and forest god (Xo phi pu, phi pa), the announcement ceremony, the procession of offerings to the gods, Phan quai (Buffalo slaughter), the worship of the sky god, ancestors and the land god (This is the main ceremony) and the festival has cultural and sports activities like other festivals.

15 km from the Nine-room Temple is Bua Cave (Tham Bua) in Chau Tien Commune, Quy Chau District. With its mysterious and magical beauty, the cave also has the following images: The Lady's Bed, the Fairy Throne, the Magic Frog, the Fairy Group...

Tham Bua Cave is also a vestige of ancient humans more than 200,000 years ago. In the past, King Bao Dai took the trouble to come here to admire the fairyland and enjoy the cave festival with the local people. The Hang Bua Festival is meant to relax after a year of hard work and hardship with farming and swiddening, and is a joy to welcome the new year and spring, so the Tham Bua Cave Festival has a strong form of cave cultural activities with many cultural activities of the Thai people such as Con throwing, crossbow shooting, stilts, cuisine, beauty contest, bamboo dancing, Tung Loong, folk song singing competition, gongs, weaving, making incense... Previously, this festival was only for the Thai people in Chieng Ngam Muong including Chau Tien, Chau Binh, Chau Thuan, Chau Thang, Chau Hanh and Chau Hoi communes of Quy Chau district, but now it has attracted "Nine provinces and ten Muongs" from many districts in the province to attend.

Getting to the cave festival is not as difficult as before, National Highway 48 has been paved flat and convenient for tourists everywhere, only 3 hours from Vinh city, we can go to visit the cave festival.

The Muong Ham Festival also existed for a long time but was interrupted due to the war and is now restored with the determination of Quy Hop district following the direction of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism with the project to build the original Thai cultural area. This festival also takes place during the spring festival to welcome the new year, worshiping the tutelary god who had the merit of building the village and the Muong. Muong Ham consists of many villages, according to legend, Tao Noi was the only son of Tao Muong Ton - the original Muong from Que Phong district who came to build the village and the Muong, building the Muongs Khun Tinh and Muong Ham, now the communes of Chau Cuong, Chau Hong, Chau Thanh, Chau Thai, Chau Son and Chau Quang, Quy Hop district. Here, Chau Cuong commune, Quy Hop district has restored the temple to commemorate the merit of Tao Noi. This is a branch temple of the Nine-room temple in Que Phong district. Therefore, the temple architecture is also in the style of a stilt house like the Nine-room Temple and when the festival comes, not only the Thai people in Quy Hop but also in Quy Chau and Que Phong join in the fun. The Muong Ham festival is the earliest of the Thai festivals in the Western region of Nghe An, right during the Lunar New Year. Like the Tham Bua Cave festival, the Muong Ham festival is a place to display and preserve the cultural values ​​of the Thai community and other ethnic groups. Although the scale is not as large as the Tham Bua Cave Festival in Quy Chau, the Muong Ham festival has a strong character of activities to welcome the new year and spring, because after this festival is the opening day and the festival goes down to the fields to increase production. The characteristic of this festival is to pray for a year of favorable weather and a bountiful harvest.

In general, typical festivals in the Western Nghe An region are all closely related and have a prominent meaning of welcoming the new year, honoring and praising the achievements of the village guardian spirits who built the village, restored and preserved the cultural identity of the ethnic groups.

Lang Quoc Khanh -Nghe An Radio and Television Station