| Description |
The forest worshiping ceremony of the Red Yao people is held on the 2nd day of the second lunar month every year. This is a traditional ceremony with the participation of all people in the village after they have finished planting the crop. The master of ceremonies is the main shaman and 3 assistant shamans and assistants. Early in the morning of the 2nd day, priests and representatives of households bring offerings, necessary items, firewood, and fire to the sacred forest to perform the ceremony. Everyone cleans up the place where the worship ceremony is held. After that, the priests burned incense, offered offerings, and invited the forest god and other gods to receive the offerings. Offerings include 2 black pigs (each weighing about 30 kg), 3 roosters, wine (poured into five cups), incense, and paper. The worshiping ceremony is performed twice: raw worshiping and cooked worshiping. Before worshiping, the main shaman blows the conch and takes offering books to perform the rituals. The purpose of these rituals is to worship the gods, land gods, tree gods, mountain gods, stream gods, and forest gods, praying for people to be healthy, peaceful, and lush crops, for domestic animals to grow quickly. After the worshiping ceremony, all participants will receive blessings on the spot. All regulations on the protection of forbidden forests in particular and forest protection in general are announced to everyone by the shaman and village head so that they can clearly understand and convey to family members such as not being allowed to cut down trees or build trees. housing, hunting... in forbidden forests, we must be conscious of planting trees, preventing forest fires, and developing the forest economy. The humane meaning of the festival is to help educate the community about love for nature, respect, and preservation of their own living environment. |
