The excellent ceremony of the Dao

The Dao people have the third largest population in Ha Giang. The Dao people are famous for their diligence and hard work, so their life is quite stable, but they also preserve almost the cultural identity of their people. One of the unique cultural values is the excellent ceremony – an indispensable ceremony in the life of the Dao man.

(Community of Dao women)

The ritual ceremony is a typical religious ritual of the Dao people, which is considered an important ceremony in the life of the man. Usually held in November, December or January every year, because at this time people are quite idle.

Dao people think that men, if they have not gone through excellent ceremonies, even though they are still considered to be children because they have not had a teacher, they have not yet been excellent and have no negative names. Those who have passed the rank of excellency, although they are still young, are considered adults, being able to participate in important works of the village, being assisted by the shaman, and worshiped and reunited with their ancestors. The people who died when they did not have a good ceremony, the descendants still have to do for them, because the Dao’s conception is that the dead still exist in a separate world, so they still need to be transmitted magic to fight the evil world. .

(The shaman and family discuss the excellent ceremony)

Before excelling they had to abstain from sleeping near their wives, not to beat dogs, slaughter chickens, ducks, cut down trees, or do insulting things to the gods … Wherever the Dao man was through ritual ceremonies, a ritual marks the maturity as well as the community’s recognition of the person who is bestowed.

(The shaman stamped the identity form)

As for the homeowners, they have to prepare a full holiday before a month. The identity of the Dao is often equivalent to that of a wedding, which usually takes 3 to 5 days, depending on the level of excellence. Before granting identity, the owner must prepare pigs, chickens, and meat rice to treat the villagers. In addition, homeowners also have to prepare traditional costumes, paintings, long-range sticks, yin and yang cards, accompanying instruments such as prisoners and drums, gongs, and trumpets

(Begin the excellent ceremony )

The ritual ceremony has many rituals such as: Ceremony of ceremonies, ceremonies for lamp-keeping, ceremonies, ceremonies for ceremonies, Ngoc Hoang’s presentation ceremony, ceremony for identity recognition, ancestral and divine thanksgiving ceremonies … Xen and among the rituals, there are many traditional ritual dances of the Dao. At the place of the ceremony, they hung Ngoc Hoang paintings and the gods of the Dao, set up ancestor altars and the altars of the Gods.

When the ceremony is performed, the priests must perform a lot of offerings, dances, and magic tricks according to the excellent books. The homage will be given to the person who receives the ceremony with two identities, one will be burned after the priest has reported. with the gods, ancestors, there is one copy handed to the ceremony. The person who will be excelled will have to keep this identity throughout his life, when he dies, he will be burned in a funeral for the gods to recognize and gather them. On the hand of the teacher is a book – that is the text book, this is the book. The book is considered to be the identity of the knife as a pass ticket when it dies to ancestors.

(The shaman and the person are excellent)

At the end of the ceremony, the priest raised his prison and went up to the sky to blow out long episodes. The sound of prison and echoes throughout the village, the mountains and forests in the night of the absence, making the ceremony become more sacred and mysterious.

Ceremony of the Dignity of the Dao in particular and the cultural identity of the ethnic minorities in general is the own soul of each ethnic group, which needs to be preserved and promoted.