Bring rat meat to ask for a wife

(Baonghean.vn) - NoNot only is rat meat a favorite dish in family meals, it is also a dowry when asking for a wife's hand in marriage in the Khmu community.

Hunting mice has been a favorite childhood activity for mountain people. In the photo, a child in Bao Nam commune, Ky Son, is showing off his “spoils of war”.

Few people like rodents, especially those living in the mountains, where they often destroy their crops. However, for the Khmu people, rat meat is an indispensable part of the wedding ceremony when the groom's family comes to the bride's family to ask for a wife.

According to those who understand the wedding customs of the Khmu community, this is an ancient custom. In many places, this unique cultural feature has been lost because finding rat meat is not always easy.

In the past, in Keng Du commune, Ky Son district, Nghe An, the groom's family prepared for a wedding very elaborately. Cooked wine, rice wine, pigs, chickens and silver ingots were important gifts. In a previous conversation, Mr. Luong Pho Bi, resident of Huoi Phuon village (Keng Du), said: "Rat meat is just as important as silver ingots."

According to a 73-year-old man who is knowledgeable about the community’s customs, the Khmu people’s wedding custom consists of three large and small parties. The first party is called “pouring wine”, followed by the engagement party and then the wedding. Before asking for a wife, the son himself must go into the forest to trap and catch rats, bring them back, gut them, and dry them in the kitchen loft as a gift for asking for a wife.

On the day of the engagement, the matchmaker and the groom's family will bring gifts to the bride's family. In addition to wine, meat, and silver bars, dried rat meat is of course indispensable. In some families, rat meat is replaced by squirrel meat. People also gut and dry squirrels as a dowry to the bride's family.

The amount of rat or squirrel meat depends on each family's ability. "But it must be at least 1kg or more," a cultural officer of Ky Son district shared.

For the Khmu people in Bao Thang commune (Ky Son), the dowry for a bride must include a pair of squirrels and a pair of mice. Each species must have a male and a female. Nowadays, this custom has also faded away.

In the memories of the highlanders, there was a time when rat meat became an indispensable dowry when asking for a wife.

The reason for the disappearance of this strange custom is explained quite simply. Nowadays, the forest area has shrunk, and mice and squirrels are also gradually decreasing. Sometimes, finding a pair of squirrels or mice requires a real male and female, which is no different from demanding the "nine-spurred chicken" offering of King Hung.

The Khmu people also prepare many dishes of rat meat. Rat meat is often fried with lemongrass, lime leaves, or grilled and wrapped in lemongrass leaves. The dish “nhốc” cooked with rat meat is considered a specialty of the Khmu and Thai people. In this strange dish, people cut the rat meat into small pieces and cook it with chili, garlic, gac leaves, wild eggplant and some wild vegetables. This dish is very popular, especially in cold weather.

Bun My