Discovering Muong Quang: Part 3: Buffalo sacrifice mound and wife selection rock

(Baonghean) - A strange thing in Muong Quang is that even the most ordinary mounds or an orphaned rock in the middle of the field can be associated with a romantic and humane legend. Among the many legendary mounds and rocks, there are mounds called Pom Mong, Pom Lac Quai and Mong Chu rock.

Thin Pom

Some people explain the name of Mong village in Cam Muon commune (Que Phong) as "thinh" village, "vang" village. People say that in the past, the villages in Muong Quang communicated with each other by drum beats. The drum of Mong village resonated the farthest, so it was named like that. From a small Mong village, the population is now dense, the government divided it into 3 villages: Mong 1, Mong 2 and Mong 3. However, no matter which village, people still call themselves Mong villagers. The division is just for easy management.

One day, when we came to Mong village and sat at the Cam Muon Commune People's Committee headquarters, knowing that we wanted to learn about Muong Quang, the Chairman of the Commune People's Committee, Lu Thanh Binh, told us that the location of the commune headquarters used to be a legendary mound called Pom Mong. In the past, this was a high mound that once housed two temples, a small one and a larger one. However, over time, there was a time when worship was restricted and prohibited. The temples, which were originally made of rotten wood and no trace remained, were then leveled according to the plan to build the commune headquarters. Now no one can imagine the location of those sacred temples anymore. The Pom Mong mound is just a flat area.

Ban Mong (Cam Muon commune) was once considered the center of Muong Quang.

We went to Mr. Lang Van Ngo, a rare elder who still remembered old stories in Muong Quang. Mr. Ngo said that the mound was leveled nearly thirty years ago. It was originally located in the center of Muong Quang. Previously, on the mound, there was a small temple worshiping three sworn brothers: Hun Quang Oi, Quan Vi Xieng and Quan Vi Phan. According to the locals, they were the first people to come and build Mong village as it is today. Hundreds of years ago, the three sworn brothers reclaimed this land.

Also according to Mr. Lang Van Ngo's research, in the early 19th century, the Nine-Garden Temple in Muong Cam Lu stopped operating. The "initiator" of this was Ly Noong in Muong Hin. He had just converted to Catholicism so he did not believe in the sacredness of the temple. After Ly Noong boycotted the Nine-Garden Temple festival, he realized that worshiping was expensive and required traveling far, so many Muongs built their own temples. Muong Quang brought the worshiping activities at the Nine-Garden Temple to Mong village and called it the Thien temple. Since then, Pom Mong, in addition to the temple to worship the three brothers who founded the village, also had a new temple originating from the Nine-Garden Temple. Like the Nine-Garden Temple festival, every 3 years, Mong villagers organize a buffalo slaughter to open the festival. After the festival, each family, rich or poor, is given a piece of buffalo skin to bring home to pray for good luck.

Lac Quai Mound

About 3 km from Pom Mong is Cam village, also in Cam Muon commune, where there is Lac Quai mound (Pom Lac Quai). This is a small mound but is considered a sacred place in Muong Quang. Today, the mound lies low, overlooking Khe Quya stream flowing into Quang river. On the high mound, you can see the whole view of Cam village with green rice fields surrounding it.

Mong Chu Rock.

Before that, while chatting, Mr. Lang Van Ngo told us the story of the mound. In a concise and inspiring voice, Mr. Ngo said: In the folk consciousness of the Thai people in Muong Quang, Pom Lac Quai is considered the border between earth and sky. From here, people, specifically shamans, can reach the place of Po Pu Cam, the most sacred god in the folk beliefs of the Thai people in the Northwest of Nghe An. Po Pu Cam is the leader in heaven, followed by Po Then. Then Na alone has 9 wives, who give birth to souls. People on earth who want to have children to continue their lineage must make offerings to Then Na. After receiving the offerings, this person makes an offering to Po Pu Cam and lets a soul descend to earth to be his child.

After a person dies, the soul must be returned to the Po Then. At that time, the person must slaughter a buffalo so that the shaman can escort the person's soul to Pom Lac Quai and to heaven. Before slaughtering the buffalo, people take the buffalo down to wash it in a nearby stream called Vang Ap Quai. Then the buffalo is tied to a stake planted on a mound of earth called "lac quai". The shaman calls down the gods from heaven to see if they are satisfied with the offering. If they are satisfied, the Then will take it back.

According to Mr. Ngo, Lac Quai hill is where Muong Quang people offer buffaloes to heaven. In a lifetime, a family must “pay tax” with a buffalo to heaven in exchange for a healthy and prosperous life. When a family has the conditions to “pay tax”, they will come to this hill to perform a buffalo slaughter ceremony. An elderly man, who guided us to the hill, said: In the past, when he was young, he had witnessed the buffalo sacrifice ceremony a few times, but this custom has been abolished for a long time.

Mong Chu Rock

On the dirt road leading to Cam village in the middle of the rice fields, there is a large rock. It is higher than the rocks next to it. Muong Quang people call the rock Con Mong Chu, or the rock waiting for lovers. Every afternoon, young men and women in love in the village sit on the rock to wait for their lovers to go to the fields to come home together. Sitting on the rock, they can observe the whole field, so unmarried men also choose this rock to sit and watch the girls in the village work. From there, the men will know which girls are the most diligent and skillful, so that at night they can come to their house to "get to know each other".

According to Mr. Lang Van Ngo, this romantic-sounding rock actually tells a story. In the past, boys in the village went out to the forest to hunt and gather, and had no time to follow girls around to flirt. If you wanted to find a good girl, you could only go to Mong Chu rock to look at her and choose her. Whoever was diligent, didn't stand around idly, and worked quickly could marry her. In the past, people valued diligence more than beauty. Even a boy who had just fallen in love could go home and tell his parents to ask for her hand in marriage. So this can be roughly called the rock for choosing a wife.

It is believed that if anyone comes to Mong Chu rock with a sincere wish, they will find true happiness as a couple. They will find their soul mate to live together for the rest of their lives. Therefore, young men and women in the village come here with sincerity and this rock is considered a bridge of love.

Huu Vi - Dao Tho