"Medicinal picking" festival in Con Cuong

(Baonghean) - In the Thai Tay Muong communities in Con Cuong (Nghe An), in addition to Lunar New Year and Independence Day on September 2, Doan Ngo Festival (May 5 of the lunar calendar) is also a great occasion of joy in the year, to remember the merits of ancestors and for relatives to reunite. On this day, people also go into the forest to collect traditional medicine...

Worship before the ancestral altar.

In the villages that have the custom of celebrating the Duanwu Festival, how many people remember when this holiday started in the community? The oldest people in the community today, such as Mr. Luong Phuc in To village (Yen Khe - Con Cuong), only remember that when he was born, there was a "5th day of the lunar month" holiday. Later, when he learned to read newspapers and listen to the radio, he learned that people in the lowlands also have a similar holiday. They call it the Duanwu Festival. Some people call it the "insect extermination" festival. Each person has a different way of calling it, but the day of the festival is the same, it is the 5th day of the 5th lunar month. The Thai people in Con Cuong simply call it "5th day of the lunar month".

In the past, in self-sufficient communities, people had prepared chickens for this day since the first day of the lunar month. After the first day of the lunar month, the weather was warmer, and the newly grown chickens in the coop were chosen to be used as offerings on the fifth day of the lunar month. Chickens offered on the fifth day of the lunar month were often well taken care of, so they were often fatter than normal chickens. Some families offered roosters, but in Mr. Phuc's Luong family, it did not necessarily have to be a male or female chicken, as long as it was a fat chicken. Molasses used to cook green bean porridge and black bean porridge was also an important part of the offerings on the fifth day of the lunar month.

On the 5th day of Tet, everyone in the family gets up early, although they don’t slaughter pigs like on Tet Nguyen Dan, they still have to slaughter chickens to worship their ancestors. People only celebrate Tet on the 5th day for one day, but the atmosphere of the festival is very strong. In Nua, To, Na Pha villages (Yen Khe commune) or some villages in Chi Khe commune, people celebrate this day as a real festival. Only a few families in these communities do not celebrate this festival.

The most important part of the 5th day of Tet of the Thai Tay Muong group in Con Cuong is the offerings. On the offerings of the people in To village (Yen Khe commune), in addition to wine (usually 2 cups), 2 plates (bowls) of sticky rice, 1 chicken, 2 cups of green tea, this day must have 2 bowls of green bean porridge cooked with molasses. Nowadays, people can also use sugar to cook porridge as long as the porridge is sweet. This offering tray will be placed on the ancestral altar and the homeowner will invite the ancestors to come and celebrate Tet.

In addition to the "house ghost" offering tray, on the 5th day of Tet, each family must also prepare offerings to worship the family's ancestral temple. Like the people in the lowlands, the Thai people of the Tay Muong group in Con Cuong also have a family temple. This is also an occasion for everyone in the family to gather and eat. The gathering place is usually at the head of the family's house. If the family has a large and spacious temple like the Vi family temple in Lien Dinh village (Chi Khe commune), the family temple can also be a place for all families in the family to gather and eat. In addition to the ancestral offering tray and the family offering tray, on the 5th day of Tet, the Thai people of the Tay Muong group in Con Cuong also prepare offerings to worship the family's parents-in-law as well as the parents-in-law of the children in the family. In the past, in multi-generational families, preparing offerings to worship related family members was very complicated. There were usually 3 or 4 generations in the family, so it was normal for a family to have several couples living together. Once married, Thai people have the obligation to visit their parents-in-law and matchmakers for Tet. Therefore, on a small Tet holiday like the 5th day of Tet, some families have to prepare up to ten trays of food to celebrate Tet. However, nowadays, the cumbersome procedures are gradually being abolished, the trend of two-generation families is gradually becoming popular in the Thai community in Con Cuong, so the problem of preparing trays and preparing Tet food has also become simpler.

There is a very special custom on the 5th of May in Con Cuong, this is the only day of the year to go pick medicinal herbs. People believe that on this day, many types of plants in the forest and garden become precious medicinal herbs. As for plants that are already precious medicinal herbs, picking them on this day will have the best effect. The people who go to pick medicinal herbs are usually women in the house, who have basic knowledge about medicinal herbs. The time to pick medicinal herbs is usually chosen at noon. Before going into the forest, people burn incense and pray before the ancestral altar to ask for directions to the precious medicinal herbs. Once in the forest, before picking the first medicinal herb, they pray to the landowner (chau din, chau nha) to ask for precious medicinal herbs to use. The medicinal herbs on this day are believed to bring health and spiritual nourishment to the user. The picked medicinal herbs are boiled as daily drinking water. Therefore, the 5th of Tet is also called the "picking medicinal herbs" Tet.

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