Central Highlands Specific Cultural Characters

Nov. 17, 2009 - PRLog -- Rong House - A place of quintessence
Rong House, a place for public ceremonial activities or guest receptions, is a typical cultural symbol of ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands. The Rong House is the soul of a village where the scared souls of the Land and the Sky, the River and the Mountain converge. It functions as a place to hold village activities, welcome guests, organise ritual ceremonies and organise village meetings. This is also a place for young boys and girls to meet, exchange love and hold wedding ceremonies.

The Rong House is a large, imposing, beautifully decorated stilt house built in the centre of the village. The axe-shaped side roof, which directs to the sky, embodies the power, authority, territory and sovereignty of the village. The building is made from bamboo, woods and other local materials.

If you visit Gia Lai, you should never forget to visit the Rong House, a place of unique quintessence, only found in this place.

Unique sepulchre in Central Highlands
Sepulchre, a burial place, is an exceptional cultural value of the Central Highlanders. According to the customs, after the burial of the deceased, kindred relatives build a shelter for the grave from rain and sunshine and store several belongings of the decreased when they were alive. Every day, relatives offer foods and waters to the deceased and cleanse the sepulchre, a way believed to connect them with the dead.
After several years, family members of the deceased will remove the hut and build a new, bigger wooden house there. In addition, the grave is to have meticulous decorations and statues resembling human beings. The practice of removing the makeshift hut is usually organised in the spring and is considered a festive day. After completing the sepulchre, they will hold the “Leaving-the-grave” (Le Bo Ma) ceremony - the last festive to see off the deceased to another world.

The Bahnar New Year Festival
The New Year Festival of the Bahnar people usually falls in February (after Tet, or New Year Festival, of the Viet people). This is the biggest and most important festival in the year, marking a new year, a new farming crop and a new age for the Bahnar people.

The festival is held at the Rong House. Godheads always are at the center of this sacred event. Apart from known divinities such as the Sun, the Rice, the Water and the Mountain, the Bahnar people also worship other gods and each god has its own altar (called Chodang). After the village patriarchs finish worshipping, the villagers can rest, play, sing and greet others.
If you can visit the festival, you will discover many other forms of folk arts and identities of the Bahnar people.

Jrai grave-leaving ceremony
This is one of the largest and most sacred festivals in the spiritual life of the Jrai people. According to the conception of the Jrai people, when a person dies, the soul of the deceased will turn into a ghost and cannot meet the ancestors immediately. Every day, the living relatives thus have to visit the soul. Until the grave-leaving ceremony is held, the soul of the deceased will return to the ancestors.
The grave-leaving ceremony is usually organised when the villagers have less farming work, usually from November to April. The ceremony is meticulously prepared under the instruction of the village patriarch.
During the grave-leaving ceremony, villagers dance around the sepulchre in harmony with the rounds of gongs and drums and share the last meal with the deceased. After this ceremony, the tomb will not be cared for any longer.

Bahnar new rice festival (SA MÓK)The new rice festival, one of the major traditional events of the Bahnar people, is held when the rice begins ripening. Hill-tribe Bahnar people pluck off the unripe rice to make rice flakes. The villagers offer the rice flakes to the divinities to thank them for protecting the rice and bringing security to the people.
The festival usually lasts three days at public Rong House or private homes, depending on village regulations. Offerings are usually rice flakes, roosters and wine. Gong teams will visit every family to play gong to exorcise evil spirits and wish best things and a bumper crop to the host.
Bahnar Epic - literature with legendary value
Hidden inside the rich spiritual cultures of the Bahnar people on the imposing Central Highlands is the Bahnar epic treasure. This is an immortal saga depicting the labour, combat and daily life activities of the people.
Despite being discovered late, Bahnar epics surprise anyone interested in culture and tradition of this people. The appearance of Dam Noi helps researchers to open the curtains of the life and spirit of the Bahnar people. A number of epics were collected and announced later, such as Bia Brau and Atau So Hle. The folk literature has become the pride of the Bahnar people.
It is nothing more interesting than sitting by the fire to listen to stories told by elderly people and experience the simple life of local people. There are lots of mysteries in Bahnar epics that require your discovery.

Quoc Hung

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