Et Dong festival of the BaNa people

Preparing for this year's upland rice harvest season, from October 9 - 11, Ba Na ethnic people in Kon Brap Du village, Tan Lap commune, Kon Ray district (Kon Tum) organized the Et Ding Ceremony. Dieng or Et Dong, means Rat Eating Ceremony to thank Giang, the gods and ancestors, for blessing the villagers with a year of good weather, lush rice plants, full of seeds, and prosperous and happy families. This is a major festival of the Ba Na people (Gio Lang branch) and is considered the nation's Tet, many people call it Tet Con Dui.

On the first day of organizing the Festival on a family scale, people prepare offerings and worship in the rice fields, inviting Giang and their ancestors to come and enjoy the Festival with their children and grandchildren.

Village patriarch A Jring Deng presided over the Et Dong festival, placing the wine jar and ceremonial bamboo basket at the center of the communal house.

To prepare offerings for the Et Dong Ceremony at the scale of the whole village community, families prepare wine jars, bamboo baskets, a roll of thread, a bunch of fresh banana leaves, umbrellas, and fresh paintings to carry up to the house. Rong. Early in the morning, a long drum sounded from the Rong house. The head of each family chose a nimble child to accompany him to bring the gifts to the Rong house. The village elder is the first to arrive to place the precious wine jar with a bamboo stick in the center, then decorate it and tie it to the pole.

Families bring the jar of wine in later, they use fresh banana leaves to line the floor, then use peng leaves (a type of forest leaf) to wrap the rice. Pack as many grains of rice as there are people in the family. The Ba Na people believe that after the end of the Et Dong Ceremony, the remaining rice grains in the package mean the family is safe, and if a few grains of rice are lost, it is a bad omen.

When the families had finished preparing, the village elder beat a long drum to signal the start of the ceremony to invite Giang. Everyone simultaneously opened the lid of the wine jar and poured water in. The village elder sits in the center of the Rong house, holding a roll of thread and tying a string from his wine jar and then passing it to the families who in turn tie it to the wine jar and their own pole. They use fresh banana leaves to tie the thread to prevent the fire from breaking the thread, which would be unfortunate. This is considered a spiritual thread that conveys a common message from the villagers to the gods and ancestors, as well as a thread that unites families in the community.

On the second day, each family in the village brought to Rong's house a pre-prepared bamboo shoot and a pot of wine to offer.

Next, the village elders perform a number of rituals such as: Take the wine from each jar and pour it into a bamboo tube, take a piece of skin from the top of the bamboo basket's head, string it into a string and tie it to a sacred corner of the Rong house to offer. Giang.

* When the families had finished preparing, the village elder beat a long drum to signal the ceremony to invite Giang to begin. Everyone simultaneously opened the lid of the wine jar and poured in water. The village elder sits in the center of the Rong house, holding a roll of thread to tie a string from his wine jar and passing it to the families...

Families sit to worship at the family's wine jar, then take a little wine and bring it to the front door of the Rong house to invite "ghosts", then pour the wine into a banana leaf funnel and go to the sacred space, the old place. The village has just placed wine cups and bamboo skins for ceremonies.

After the Giang worshiping ceremony, everyone returns to their home to eat the worshiping rice at home. When the village elder's drum sounded at Rong's house, everyone gathered here to drink ceremonial wine, and the fun lasted until evening. At the end of the first day, the bamboo rat is brought up to the altar, which is a sacred area in the middle of the Rong house.

On the second day, everyone drinks wine to bring the souls of grandparents and ancestors back to heaven. Near the end of the afternoon, the village elder and some young people went to the sacred area to pray to the gods to let the villagers bring down the child. Every family brings a cup of wine and some food to the sacred space in the hope that Giang will bring them luck.

The bamboo was then brought down and placed in the center of the Rong house, where the village elder's wine jar was placed. The heads of households take turns bringing their meatballs home to be cut, processed, and divided equally among all participating members and guests. Everyone ate together and talked about work in the future. At the end of the day, the head bone of the bamboo rat is tied to a stick and placed in the worship area in the middle of the Rong house. This ritual not only shows the villagers' respect for the sacred animal, but also serves as an announcement to the gods that the Et Dong Festival has ended.

By: Trần Lâm