| Description |
Every year, the Phu La people in Nan Sin commune often organize a Forest Worship Ritual (lau pin phu) on the last day of the first lunar month. The Phu La people believe that the forest god always plays a very important role in their lives, providing shelter for human life. The ritual is presided over by the village elder. The location is usually close to the forest, with a large area. They build an altar made of bamboo, thatched roof with no truncated tops, with 4 legs about 1m high, about 1m long, on a bamboo altar surface 1m wide, 2m long. Families contribute offerings and money to the common organization. Each family must contribute a chicken, a bowl of rice, a bottle of wine, according to the regulations of the village community.
In the Phu La Forest Worship Ritual, the village elder often doubles as a shaman, and will prepare the offerings according to traditional customs. The shaman must prepare the tools for the offering 2 days before the forest worshiping ritual, go into the forest to get a tree (cha mu sai) to carve into a wooden sword, about 70cm long, then smear black charcoal on the sword, and gather 10-15 children, on the day of the ritual, smear black charcoal on the children's faces to perform magic. In addition, he must make 2 pieces of bamboo to use as objects to ask for yin and yang during the ritual. The shaman holds the sword, points to the forbidden forest, goes to the altar and prays to invite the forest god to return to receive the offering and bless the villagers. After praying, the shaman pours wine into cups on the altar to invite the forest god and the land god to come back to enjoy the food and witness the villagers' sincerity. At noon of the forest worshiping ritual, the whole village finishes eating and drinking in the forest, then they go home, and return 3 days later to clean up. They avoid pregnant women and women who are not "clean" from participating in the ritual. After the ritual, each family will make a “phung manh” flag and hang it at the door to pray for good luck for the whole year. The “phung manh” flag is hung to pray for good luck for the family, for people and animals to be healthy. The family will change the “phung manh” flag every 3 years on the village forest worshiping day.
This is a folk belief ritual with the meaning of protecting the ecological environment and praying for blessings with profound humanistic values of the Phu La ethnic group in Nan Sin commune. The forest worshiping festival aims to pray for the forest god to protect the village in peace, for people to be healthy, united, and have a good harvest. Through the Forest Worship Ritual, the Phu La community in Nan Sin commune is more united, educating the younger generation to protect and preserve the forest and the traditional culture of the Phu La ethnic group. With its good and important values, the Forest Worship Festival of Phu La people, Nan Sin commune (Xin Man district) was recognized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2018. |
