The touching story of the Mong flute

(Baonghean.vn) – The panpipe has existed for a long time and carries the cultural identity of the Mong community in Nghe An. Surrounding the panpipe is a touching story about family and brotherhood.

While cleaning a large panpipe hanging on the wall, village elder Lau Xai Phia (Nam Khien village - Nam Can - Ky Son) said: "The life of the Mong people cannot be separated from the sound of the panpipe. The sound of the panpipe is the voice of the Mong people."

The panpipe is always associated with the life of the Mong people in the Western region of Nghe An.

Revolving around the story of the panpipe and its origin, Mr. Xai Phia said: Once upon a time, in a family there were 6 orphaned siblings, but they loved each other very much. Wherever they went, they were together, never willing to be separated.

One year, the sky flooded, all crops were lost, and famine occurred everywhere. The 6 brothers and villagers evacuated to the high mountains to avoid the flood and find food. However, 4 out of the 6 brothers could not survive the devastating flood in the mountains. Of the remaining 2 brothers, one was pushed by the water to the other side of the river, where countless people died, and coconut shells were lying around at his feet, making the younger brother extremely scared.

The Mong people express all their feelings in the sound of the panpipe.

In the scene of separation, without food or water, the two brothers thought they had reached the end of the road, they thought of death waiting for them ahead. But before dying, the older brother wanted to send words of love to his younger brother who was on the other side of the flood. He took the dead man's bones and ground them into a knife, cut a bamboo stick to make a flute.

When the flute was finished, he played it but felt that something sacred was missing. The sound of his flute could only speak for himself and not in harmony with the voices of his brothers. After thinking for a while, he made 5 more to represent the voices of the other 5 brothers.

The Mong people's panpipe carries within it a symbol of brotherhood, representing one of the rich cultural features of this ethnic community.

After connecting the six flutes together, the eldest brother blew them and felt his heart in harmony with the voices of his younger brothers. The sound of the flute echoed in the mountains and forests, expressing the feelings of the Mong people from birth to the afterlife. The shortest but loudest one is called “di lua” representing the eldest brother, the longest one is “di bua” representing the second brother, the third one is “di tu”, the fourth one is “di so”, the fifth one is “di to”, and the smallest one is the youngest brother “di tro”.

In the funeral of the Mong people, the sound of the panpipe is indispensable.

The sound of the elder brother's flute flew throughout the mountains and forests, surprising the birds and animals, wondering why there was such a beautiful sound today. Animals from everywhere came to watch in great numbers. They all wanted to ask the elder brother for one to play. The elder brother made a condition: if any animal helped the two brothers reunite, he would give that animal the biggest flute.

Both the ape and the hawk volunteered to carry the man across the river, but the hawk could only use its claws to support the older brother, while the ape tried its best to carry the older brother on its back to swim through the flood. After crossing the river, meeting the younger brother, considering the efforts of the two animals, the older brother gave the ape the biggest, loudest and most beautiful flute, the “y lua”, while the hawk was given a smaller one. That is why the ape has such a loud and beautiful voice now.

In the spiritual life of the Mong community, the sound of the panpipe is never lacking.

Sitting quietly by the fire, Mr. Lau Xai Phia said: “For generations, the Mong people have expressed their feelings through the sound of the panpipe. The panpipe is played for boys and girls to fall in love, the panpipe is played for the souls of ancestors to reunite with their families, and for the souls of the dead to be liberated…”

Dao Tho