Theritual of offering to the mature E de compatriots in the two districts of SongHinh and Son Hoa in Phu Yen province is one of the 8 national intangiblecultural heritages recently acknowledged by the Ministry of Culture-Sports-Tourism.

Implementing the rituals of offering to E De mature compatriots

Each nation has its ownhistory of establishment and development with time in parallel with thetraditional cultural values which are preserved and developed via theups-and-downs of each village, region’s historical periods. As for E Decompatriots in Phu Yen province, for ages, the social customs have beenintensively permeated in the local compatriots’ spiritual life.

As to the statistical figurefor 2017 by Phu Yen department of culture, sports, tourism, the population of Ede compatriots in the locality has been 24,824, mainly residing in the twodistricts of Song Hinh and Son Hoa, who concentrate in Song Hinh district,mainly in the communes of Ea Bar, Ea Ba, Ea Lam, Ea Bia, Ea Trol, Ea Ly and HaiRieng townlet,…

E De compatriots in Phu Yenfollow the multi-god belief with the god system being diversified and presentin every single object and event. Therefore, during the process of living andworking, producing, E De compatriots in Phu Yen process the agricultural ritualspursuant to the circle of plants, as well as the lifespan circle to pray forgood health and longevity. The life circle rituals include: the rituals ofnaming, blowing ears, maturing, getting married, looking for husband, farewellrituals, bo ma ritual…

Besides, E De compatriots inPhu Yen have always been caring about health and life of the people and thisattention is shown in a system of 7 times or 9 times for wishing for happiness,good health for the entire human life. As to the thinking of each E Decompatriot, if each person fulfills all of these rituals, the longevity andofferings will also be increased. If a human wishes good health, happiness andsuccess, the rituals of offering to the deities is a must to receive theblessing, and the ritual of praying for the maturity of E De is one significantpart in a human life, asserting that from this point of life, the E De man areacknowledged by the compatriots to be mature, competent to get the burden offamily and village’s work.

The ritual of offering tothe mature E de compatriots in particular and rituals of life span of E De PhuYen are shown to prove the connection between families and communities. Via theserituals, the customs, social habits are maintained and the traditional customsare used in a respectable manner, the culture of gongs is also practiced withthe traditional dances, creating the cultural values of E De compatriots in PhuYen.

The ritual bears significantmeanings in the spiritual life of each individual and community, this ritualhas existed for many centuries and has been one of the typical traditionalrituals of E De compatriots living in Phu Yen province.

The offering to the mature Ede compatriots (Song Hinh district, Son Hoa district) has been acknowledged asthe national intangible cultural heritage, and this has been the joy of notonly E De compatriots in particular but also the shared pride of thecommunities of ethnic compatriots living in Phu yen in general. This is alsothe foundation for the governments, authorities to have the proper andcompatible assessment to the heritage.

Phu Yen Department of Culture,Sports, Tourism let known, with the attention of timely direction of the localgovernments, the efforts of those working in the  sector of foundational culture and information,the ritual of offering the mature E De compatriots is now being preserved by EDE Phu Yen compatriots and practiced in a popular manner in various towns andtown lets where E De compatriots live in the districts of Song Hinh and Son Hoa.

In the coming time, thedepartment of all local governments continues to propagate, mobilize E Decompatriots to implement the preservation, practice of offering to mature E Decompatriots, maintaining this ritual within families; constructing mechanism,policies to support the expenditure in maintaining and developing the heritagevalues, especially in teaching and transferring to the followers who continuethe practice of this heritage.

Source:toquoc.vn

Translatedby HAI LOAN