New Rice Festival - the Xơ Đăng nation has finished harvesting

Every year in the Tây Nguyên Highlands of Vietnam, in villages belonging to the Xơ Đăng ethnic minority, numerous celebrations and events are held. The New Rice Festival holds a special place in the calendar of these events. With a unique, one-of-a-kind setting, this festival provides an opportunity for the entire local community to express gratitude to the spirits of Heaven and Earth for a good harvest and full grain granaries, and to ask for a prosperous and happy life.

The New Rice Festival is the largest and most important holiday of the year in the Central Plateau Region. It often lasts for two to three days, during which various rituals dedicated to worshipping good spirits are held, associated with folk songs and dances. The festivities thus have not only spiritual, but also cultural significance.

It used to be a family holiday, which has now evolved into a joint celebration of the residents of the entire village.

A week before the festivities, the village head announces a gathering of all families at the communal Rong house, which is located in the center of the village. It not only has unusual architecture, but is also a sacred place. The village eldest announces the date of the holiday and assigns tasks to be performed by fellow villagers. Women are responsible for preparing rice, drinking water and vegetables and cleaning the Rong house. The men are tasked with hunting forest game, gathering firewood and repairing the building. The eldest of the village directs the work and, as a representative of the community, thanks the gods for the harvest.

The festival dedicated to the harvest takes place after the harvest, at the beginning of the new year according to the solar calendar. Regardless of whether the harvest was successful or less bountiful, villagers celebrate the festival expressing gratitude to the gods for their protection and asking for a harvest of rice next year.

To celebrate the holiday, all families prepare skewers and rice in bamboo tubes. Also indispensable is rượu cần rice wine, specially prepared for festive occasions.

Rượu cần is drunk on special occasions, such as weddings or harvest festivals, for example. Rice with herbs is fermented for at least a month, yielding 15-20% alcohol content. Two or more people drink this wine from one vessel through long tubes. When a guest is invited to drink rượu cần by local people, it means they are treated with special respect.

At the appointed time, people bring all the ritual foods to the communal Rong house. When everything is ready, the village eldest begins a prayer in which he invites the spirits to come down to earth and receive hospitality. The ritual menu includes pork and freshly harvested rice. Also essential are field rice rats, which are used to prepare various dishes. They are consumed by all participants in the ceremony believing that this will help reduce the number of rodents in the fields. After the cult rituals, gongs and bamboo xylophones called k'lông pút begin to sound.

The New Rice Festival is also an opportunity for villagers to usher their sons and daughters into adulthood. Boys and girls have the opportunity to meet each other.

Leaving the community Rong house, villagers begin to go from house to house and wish their hosts well. In a family circle, they gather Xơ Đăng around the fire and together eat new rice, drink cần wine and dance to the sound of gongs.
According to tradition, grains of new rice are scattered around the houses to make the next year's grain harvest even richer.

After the New Rice Festival celebrations, everyone returns to their daily, arduous work in the rice fields with hope and faith for happiness and prosperity in the new season.