Lễ cúng cơm mới của làng, bản (new-rice offering ceremony of the village, bản)
Also called: Thường tân, Mừng lúa mới, Tết cơm mới, Chôm khảu mớ (người Thái)
- Village farming rites
Culture and belief A record of custom.
By the custom of many communities, the first rice of the season must be offered to the deities and ancestors first, and only then may the whole household and the whole bản eat. Available sources have described the ceremony of the Thái in Sơn La, Thanh Hóa, Đắk Lắk and of the Thổ in Thanh Hóa; the offering tray and the taboos differ from one bản to another.
At a glance
- When it is held
- After the harvest: the 9th and 10th lunar months; where two crops are grown, also around the 5th month
- For whom
- Deities (Thổ Địa (Earth God), the earth god, the rain god), ancestors, the rice spirit
Each family and each region may do it differently.
The offering tray
Region:
North
Northwest, Thái, Mộc Châu, Sơn La, Folk practice
- When
- Yearly, in the rice-ripening season
- Where the offerings are set
- The Thổ Công (Earth God of the house) altar and the ancestors' altar inside the stilt house
- Who makes the offering
- The ritual master of the household; relatives and representatives of the households in the bản join in
| Offering | Vegetarian or not | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Other | ||
| Offering tray to Thổ Địa (Earth God) | Required. To respectfully announce and invite them to come and witness | |
| Offering tray to the rice spirit: grasshoppers, forest rats | Required. Consists only of the animals that often destroy the crops | |
| Meat and savoury dishes | ||
| Offering tray to the ancestors: rooster, pork, glutinous rice, xôi (steamed sticky rice), rượu cần (jar wine), betel leaves and areca nuts, votive paper, a bowl of new rice | Meat or fish | Required. The bowl of new rice is indispensable; a rooster is set aside specifically for the ancestors |
Central
North Central Coast, Thái, Nam Xuân, Thiên Phủ, Phú Lệ, Folk practice
- When
- At the end of the 5th or the 10th lunar month, after the harvest; an auspicious day is chosen; in Phú Thanh the offering is made in the evening
- Where the offerings are set
- At home, before the altar
- Who makes the offering
- The whole household joins in; the whole bản goes together to catch fish and pick mushrooms in preparation
| Offering | Quantity | Vegetarian or not | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rice and salt | |||
| New rice cut from the family's field | Vegetarian | Required | |
| Meat and savoury dishes | |||
| Chicken meat, pork, fish, stream crabs, long snails, eggs, mushrooms | two offering trays | Meat or fish | Bản Bút, Nam Xuân commune |
| Fish wrapped in sour bamboo shoots, forest vegetables cooked by steaming | Meat or fish | In the past the whole bản went out to the Luồng river to scoop up fish from early morning | |
Central Highlands, Thái, Ea Kiết, Đắk Lắk, Folk practice
- When
- In mid-ninth lunar month, when the upland rice has been brought into the granary; the article also writes of the last days of the tenth month.
- Where the offerings are set
- In the buôn (village).
- Who makes the offering
- The ritual master in the buôn (village) on behalf of the community.
| Offering | Vegetarian or not | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Xôi (steamed sticky rice) and cakes | ||
| A bowl of rice cooked from new rice. | Vegetarian | Required |
| Other | ||
| Produce of the harvest. | ||
North Central Coast, Thổ, Như Xuân, Thanh Hóa, Folk practice
- When
- Twice a year, around the fifth and tenth months, after each harvest; a day is chosen.
- Where the offerings are set
- At each household or done together by the whole community.
- Who makes the offering
- The mo priest.
| Offering | Quantity | Vegetarian or not | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Meat and savoury dishes | |||
| New rice, a plate of xôi (steamed sticky rice), boiled chicken, wine, well water or rainwater, fish, betel leaves and areca nuts. | Two trays: one tray for offering to the spirits, one tray for offering to the ancestors. | Meat or fish | Words of a local person in the article: whether poor or rich, there must be. |
| Other | |||
| Produce made or caught by the people in the household themselves. | Required. On the tray for offering to the ancestors. | ||
| Rice and salt | |||
| Three to five beautiful rice ears. | Vegetarian | Chosen before harvesting, hung beside the ancestors' altar to keep the soul of the rice. | |
What is avoided
North Central Coast, Thái, Nam Xuân, Thiên Phủ, Phú Lệ, Folk practice
- Bản Páng (Phú Lệ commune) absolutely does not offer chicken and does not offer buffalo, according to an old story about a mother hen
North Central Coast, Thổ, Như Xuân, Thanh Hóa, Folk practice
- The ancestors must eat the new rice first; for the descendants to eat first is disrespectful.
Where the sources differ
- All are Thái people in Thanh Hóa: bản Bút (Nam Xuân) has chicken meat on the new-rice tray, while bản Páng (Phú Lệ) avoids offering chicken and buffalo.
Communities and regions
Sources
- Lễ Chôm khảu mớ của đồng bào dân tộc Thái (baovanhoa.vn)
- Men cơm mới của người Thái xứ Thanh (baovanhoa.vn)
- Lễ ăn cơm mới của người Thái giữa đại ngàn (nhandan.vn)
- Người Thổ ở Thanh Hóa giữ gìn nghi lễ cúng cơm mới: Tri ân tổ tiên, cầu mùa bội thu (baovanhoa.vn)
Part of the open datasets Types of Vietnamese offering rites and Vietnamese offering procedures, licensed CC BY 4.0.
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