Wild Feast of A Da of the Tà Ôi people on the Trường Sơn Mountains
The Tà Ôi people's traditional A Da festival is held at the end of the year after the harvest has been completed. Tà Ôi organizes A Da in the hope of having a good harvest and a warm new year.
According to Tà Ôi ethnic group customs in A Lưới district (Thua Thien Hue), the A Da Festival, also known as the New Rice Festival, is the second largest festival after the people's Ariêu Ping festival. This weekend, the Cultural Tourism Village of Vietnam's Ethnic Groups (Dong Mo, Hanoi) faithfully recreated this ritual.
The A Da ceremony was attended by the village elders and their chiefs, guests, representatives of their descendants, and village elders at the village's Rong house.
The number of offerings for each household will be determined by the village elder. Pipe-grilled blue rice, pipe-grilled wild rat, pipe-grilled stream fish, chicken, chicken egg, pig, cake, wine, and other offerings are frequently found on the offering tray.
It is a very traditional type of Tà Ôi cake. Every year, the Tà Ôi people celebrate the Feast of A Da in the 12th month of the calendar. The Tà Ôi people had to prepare for the A Da festival a month in advance.
People pound rice by hand to make cakes for their ancestors. This is a glutinous rice cake wrapped in a 2-headed cone shape. The cake resembles northern and southern tacos but lacks chickpea filling and meat.
The Tà Ôi ethnic group is also known by many other names, including Pa Co, Ta Uot, KanTua, Pa Hy... They lived for a long time in Truong Son Mountains. The cultivation method is similar to that used by the Co Tu and Bru - Van Kieu clans. During the A da ceremony, two young Tà Ôi men hold a diced stick (a traditional musical instrument).
Ơ Giàng, the priest vowed. There is fragrant wine, cooked meat, and delectable cakes here; please return and receive them for the hearts of the locals.
In the ceremony, the village elders will represent the families, and then in the assembly, the relatives eat and drink to congratulate each other, and they dance and sing to celebrate the good harvest. The dice and gong drums blended with the joyful dances, applause, and bright smiles on the Tà Ôi people's lips.
The end of the A Da ceremony is also when the sound of dice and the rhythm of the people are heard.
This dice stick makes constant, erratic noise. The voices of isolated tribes in the deep forest echoed in the distance.
After the ceremony, the village elders, priests, and people all joined in the musical feast and danced around the altar.
Source: Hữu Nghị