| Description |
The Red Yao people call the year-end ceremony Quý Héng ceremony. This is the biggest ceremony of the year, taking place from December 23 - 24 to January 5.
On the beautiful morning before New Year's Eve, the homeowner sets up an altar consisting of 3 altars - Bứa Héng (ancestor altar); Sáng Chà phin (altar to worship the gods and ghosts of the ancestors of the shaman profession); Sám Háng (altar to worship sentient beings). Each ceremony is led by a priest. The offerings at each herd are different: Bứa Héng - a boiled chicken with the entrails removed, 5 cups of wine, ban paper, two incense sticks, a bowl of rice wrapped in a piece of cloth, a silver ring placed on a piece of cloth; Sáng Chà phin - a boiled chicken, a cup of mineral water, 5 cups of wine, 3 bowls of rice with a silver ring on top; Sám Háng - 5 cups of water, 5 cups of wine, 5 cups of rice with a pair of bamboo chopsticks placed on top, a boiled chicken, incense, candles.
Ritual of getting water at the beginning of the year: after New Year's Eve, the homeowner prepares a packet of salt, and a cup of water and departs in a certain direction. Going to the water source, after praying, they put a packet of salt there and then took a cup of water and brought it to the ancestral temple.
The fire dancing ritual takes place in each family, from the 2nd to the 5th of January. During the ceremony, firewood is burned, and the priest prays and worships the gods. All village boys participating in fire dancing sit and worship from the beginning of the ceremony, on chairs around the fire. When the firewood burned down into a pile of glowing embers, each couple jumped in, barefoot, jumped up, and rolled over the pile of embers. |
