| Description |
The Pặt Oong Water Purification Ritual of the Pu Peo has existed since ancient times. In the local language, it is "pặt oong", "pặt" in Pu Peo means to clean, and "oong" means water, "pặt oong" means to clean water, is a ceremony to generate water, generate fire, drive away evil spirits, bad things from the house, from the village, from the territory of the Pu Peo people and pray for a new year of happiness, peace, and good crops.
The ceremony takes place at the beginning of the first lunar month. First, the villagers contribute 2 chickens (1 male, 1 female), 2 kg of sticky rice to make cakes for the communal ceremony. In addition, families must prepare a tray of offerings to their ancestors in their homes.
The "Pắt oong" Water Purification Ritual begins at the shaman's house (the master of ceremonies), the shaman offers offerings (including a boiled rooster, cakes made from sticky rice flour, wine, 3 dishes of rice - meat) and performs the ceremony at the family's ancestral altar. After the ancestor worship ceremony, the shaman lights a prepared torch, goes to each family to pray for peace, brings water, brings fire to the field. The whole village gathers in the field to perform a common ceremony: reporting and sending off bad omens... After worshiping the forest god and the field god, the shaman sets up an altar to continue worshiping the ghosts in the sky, the ghosts on the ground and wandering ghosts. Whether the ceremony is big or small, the offerings (raw offerings) are made twice before the offerings are made fully. The offerings are cooked with water taken from each family and fire from a torch lit from the shaman's house.
After the ceremonies, people exchange and share experiences, eat and drink, participate in activities such as catching bird's nests, playing spinning tops, singing spring songs... contributing to connecting the community, guiding people towards a better life. After the Field Ceremony, the villagers will enter a new sowing season with the belief and hope that the crops will flourish, the harvest will be bountiful, and the lives of the villagers will become more prosperous and happier. With that meaning, in 2018, the Pặt Oong Water Purification Ritual of the Pu Peo was included in the list of National Intangible Cultural Heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. |
