The custom of worshiping the rice life cycle of the Gia Rai people in Kon Tum

From the beginning of sowing rice on the fields until the time they harvest the rice and put it in the warehouse, the Gia Rai people in Kon Tum carry out the custom of worshiping the life cycle of rice, including: Offering to prune rice, worshiping to celebrate the flowering of rice, worshiping to celebrate new rice, and putting rice in. warehouse. These offerings, according to local people, are to give thanks to the gods, to help control the rice fields from being disturbed by birds, rats or wild boars, and also to allow the rice crop to fill warehouses.

Offering rice pruning

Around the beginning of April, when the fields of rice on the hillsides are changing from seedlings (newly sown rice) to rice plants, it is also the time when villagers begin to prepare for the rice pruning ceremony, praying for good rice. not subject to drought or damage by wild animals. Gia Rai people consider rice pruning offerings to be an indispensable ritual in their spiritual life. The worshiping ceremony is calculated and performed according to the life cycle of the rice plant - the plant considered by people to be the residence of the souls of their ancestors.

The custom of worshiping the rice life cycle of the Gia Rai people in Kon Tum

Village elder A Bel (65 years old), lock village, Sa Thay town confided: People do not do rice pruning offerings in the fields, but only at home, and early in the morning the whole family goes to the rice fields to prune rice like this. a form of “magic”.

Right from early morning, the whole family gathered in the hut, to prepare to go to the fields to prune rice. Before leaving, the homeowner took a fresh tree branch and hung it in front of the hut to let the people in the village know that today this family was having a rice pruning ceremony. And during the ceremony, no one is allowed to enter that house. If anyone enters the house, the family will lose their crop, and birds and rats will destroy the rice.

After hanging the branches, the whole family went to the fields together to prune the rice and light a fire in the swamp house to keep the fire burning brightly. Then the homeowner held two leek trees and planted them diagonally at the top of the rice field and the whole family began to prune the rice together. According to custom, before the rice pruning ceremony, no one is allowed to pass through the field and no one is allowed to ask for fire until the rice pruning ceremony has not been offered.

After pruning rice for a while, the whole family went home to give thanks to the gods for allowing them to go to the fields. The offerings include 2 chickens, wine, some wild vegetables and a ritual of thanksgiving to the gods. “In the past, during the rice pruning ceremony, every family made a few jars of wine and a pig for relatives to come and celebrate with the family. But now people know how to save money and time, so everyone just does it simply. Although it is such a compact organization, it also shows gratitude to the gods and is no less sacred" - according to village elder A Bel.

Because it's simple, we only invite old people, relatives, and people with a lot of rice in the village, so that while they drink, they can exchange and share business experiences for the family. And that day, family and guests drank together, talked, sang epic songs, in the stilt house with a flickering fire. The next day, the family started pruning the rice fields. People passing by the fields often asked for fire, and together they worked and sang epic songs on the fields.

Celebrate the blooming of rice

By July, the rice plants bloom and to have a good year, people hold the rice flowering ceremony to thank the gods. This time, people held the thanksgiving ceremony outside the rice fields and made more sacrifices. Before the ceremony, relatives come together to help the family make wine. On the day of the ceremony, together they carry a small pig, chicken, and wine to the rice fields to make offerings. The man in the family chooses a high, flat location near the lagoon house to make the offering place. The woman picked a small bundle of rice to prepare for offering to the rice god. During the ceremony, a man cuts off the chicken's neck, the pig's blood is cut off, the chicken's head is placed on a bamboo tree, the blood is mixed with wine to worship.

Others light fires to roast chickens and pigs for sacrifices. In the custom of worshiping sprouting rice, it is mandatory to have 4 jars of wine, the first jar is to worship ghosts in the family so that the spirits do not get hungry and harass them; The two families invited Giang to drink wine and eat meat to bless them with favorable weather and wind; The last wort is to worship the rice god in hopes of blessing the field rice fields with lots of rice. After the ceremony, people enjoy wine together, dance and sing, play gongs, and play the To Rung instrument on the rice fields until late in the evening.

Celebrate new rice

When the rice is ripe in the fields and the harvest begins, the people go to the fields to pick the first basket of rice to celebrate eating new rice, to thank the gods before going to the fields to harvest rice. After harvesting the new rice, the woman put it in a mortar to crush it and took the flour along with a chicken, a small pig, and 3 jars of wine to make offerings to the gods.

During the worshiping ceremony, the homeowner casts a spell and prays three times, and while the woman is pounding rice, she takes a Kagu tree and burns it in a mortar to invite the god to return. When the worship is finished, the whole family takes the blessing first, and at night invites people in the village to come to the house to eat the new rice.

Ceremony of "asking the gods" to put rice into the warehouse

When people finish harvesting the crop and the rice is dried, they put the rice in the warehouse and hold a ceremony to ask the god of the rice warehouse to protect the rice that can be eaten all year round so that it does not spoil and that rats do not come in and destroy it. This ceremony is only done within the family, without inviting anyone, just making a chicken and brewing wine and then taking it to the rice warehouse to worship.

Although today, people do not spend as much time and offerings on ceremonies as in the past, but still retain the rich cultural identity of ethnic minorities. For them, rice is the most important crop, providing food for them all year long, so there are many rituals to pray for a large harvest of rice and food all year round. That is also an opportunity for people to express their feelings and wishes to the gods who have helped them have a prosperous life.