VOV.VN - The Mong ethnic people in northern Lai Chau province organize their traditional spring festival called Gầu Tào on the first days of the first lunar month to thank heaven and earth for wealth and good harvests, and to pray for a peaceful, prosperous and happy new year.
Gầu Tào, which means mountain sight-seeing in the spring, is a community religious festival held by the Mong at the beginning of every Lunar New Year.
This year, the festival takes place in Ta Leng commune, Tam Duong district, where the Mong people mainly live.
The festival begins with a bamboo pole worship ritual to thank heaven and earth, and deities for their blessings, giving people health and peace, as well as praying for blessings and fortune in the new year.
The main offerings are products made by local people such as pigs, chickens, sticky rice, among others.
In addition to the worship ritual, the festival also includes many cultural and sports activities held in a spring festival atmosphere.
Rice pounding, which is closely linked to local people’s farming, is an indispensable part of the festival.
Rice winnowing is a farming practice that is very familiar to the Mong women.
The most exciting part of the festival is the contest of making Bánh Giày (a white, flat, and round glutinous rice cake).
Glutinous rice is pounded by hand using wooden mortars, and young men are very eager to engage in the contest.
Delicious rice cakes are made from sticky rice grown in the highlands.
. Joining in the festival, Giang Pao My, secretary of the Lai Chau Provincial Party Committee, encourages local people to preserve their cultural identity.
The festival is an opportunity for the Mong people to strengthen solidarity and to build a more prosperous and happier community as well as the fatherland.
Từ khóa: festival, Gau Tao festival, spring festival, Mong ethnic people, good harvests, lunar New Year