| Description |
The Nàng Hai Festival, also known as the Moon Praying Festival, begins in January and lasts until mid-March with the symbolic meaning of mothers and fairies on earth going to heaven to welcome Mother Moon and fairies down to earth. The Ngan ethnic group believes that on the Moon there is Mother Moon and 12 fairies, her daughters, who always take care of and protect the crops of all people. They choose a mother to be Mother Moon, and the girls play the role of fairies, including two unmarried girls who play the two moon sisters. The characters all wear traditional costumes according to regulations. They set up a "moon tent" as a place for Mother Moon and the fairies to sit during the ceremony.
Before the ceremony, the people playing the role of Mother Moon (Mụ Cốc) and the girls stand in front of the altar so that Mr. Tào can perform the transformation ceremony for the souls of Mother Moon and the fairies to enter. From then on, they must abstain according to regulations. The ceremony is held on a large field with the rituals of "worshiping the local land princess" at the communal temple to ask permission for the villagers to organize the Moon-praying festival the following night. According to tradition, the ritual of carrying offerings from Thanh An communal house to the outdoor altar is a very important part to invite the gods to witness. The procession consists of 8 young people carrying the palanquin, including 4 men and 4 women, led by the shaman and the dancers, followed by trays of offerings including a pig's head, 4 pig's feet, chicken, duck, wine, cakes, and five-color dyed sticky rice. The shaman worships the local land goddess and the gods, the artists perform the rituals of dancing around the altar when the Moon-welcoming festival opens. After completing the ritual of reporting to Mother Moon and the 12 fairies, the village elder performs the rituals of praying for blessings, good luck, favorable weather, good crops; inviting Mother Moon and the fairies to bring crops and blessings to the villagers. The ceremony lasts for twelve nights. Each night, a Mother is invited. After that, they held a ceremony to send the moon ladies back to heaven.
As for the festival, the shaman blew the trumpet and opened the festival. Villagers and commune residents participated in traditional sports activities such as: men's and women's volleyball; blindfolded duck catching; and pond fishing. In addition, the festival featured performances of folk songs, then singing, coi singing, folk games, and traditional cuisine of the Ngan ethnic group such as bamboo-tube rice, wild vegetable dishes, pork fish sauce, field carp fish sauce, salted plums, five-color sticky rice, pickled bamboo shoots, black plums dipped in sesame salt.
This is a unique folk festival imbued with spiritual colors, with a positive and highly educational nature in the Ngan community. With its unique cultural values, the Ngan ethnic group's Moon Praying Festival was recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in 2018. |
