Soh my god is the new rice festival, which takes place annually in the Plei (village) Bahnar, as an occasion for the villagers to show their gratitude to Yang (God) and Yang Sri (rice god) gave the villagers a bountiful harvest. As a community festival, the new rice worship ceremony is attended by everyone in the village but is guided by the Bok Ra (village elder), the person with the highest voice in the village, listened to and trusted by the villagers.
The new rice offering ceremony is usually started by a meeting with the presence of most of the villagers, called by the village elder. At this meeting, the date and time of the offering ceremony is determined, the organizational steps are approved, and the roles in the ceremony are nominated. With the agreement of everyone, the new rice offering ceremony is officially started. The village elder will perform a ceremony flat before the ceremony at the stream at the beginning of the village. Almost all Bahnar villages are established near a water source. This ceremony is to inform the ancestors, the Yang song, Yang stream about the new rice offering ceremony is about to be held. At this time, the villagers will start harvesting rice to prepare for the dishes used in the ceremony. On the day of the ceremony, the men set up preliminary (pole) outside the communal house, arranged waiting (worshiping altar) in the communal house, women carry water, pound rice to prepare to make green rice from the newly harvested rice, the main dish on the occasion of celebrating the new rice.
Because the new rice celebration is a community effort, everyone in Mo H'ra holds some piece of the puzzle in the whole process.
Ms. Dinh Thi Van said:
“Whenever there is a new rice celebration, we carry water, tie jars, and pound rice to make green rice flakes. We rarely pay much attention to what the men are doing. Everyone has their own work, and when we are done, the whole village sits down to eat green rice flakes, drink wine, and sing and dance together.”
Instead of contributing to the new rice offering ceremony as usual, this time the villagers sat together to chat, reminisce, and record their memories through drawings recounting the ceremony, capturing not only the details but also their own feelings during the thanksgiving ceremony. Yang Sri has blessed and raised them.
Below is the prayer that village elder Dinh H'mưnh prays for every new rice celebration:
“Oh Yang Sri, good Yang, Yang on Cho Lay mountain, Yang of Ba river. Today our village is holding the first new rice celebration. Tell the Yangs to come here to eat and drink, to share joy with the villagers, to come eat chicken liver and the first new rice. Bless the villagers to live healthy, have good crops, and not be sick. Bless the villagers to have good crops next year. The rice next year, next season will be more than this year.
You can see more pictures shown in motion picture format at THIS ok
To see the full version of these incredibly beautiful postcards, click here. THIS ok
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