Giay women go to pick glutinous rice to make nuggets

From the traditional ceremony…

Ethnic minorities in Lao Cai have many rituals to celebrate the new rice, in which the Tay people in Ta Chai, Ban Lien (Bac Ha), Liem Phu (Van Ban), Nghia Do (Bao Yen) communes have many rituals. the custom of offering nuggets; Giay people in Ta Van (Sa Pa) and Quang Kim (Bat Xat) communes hold Then Com ritual; Nung Din people (Bac Ha) also make nuggets to process the soul of the rice mother... According to Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thanh, who specializes in collecting and researching culture, Heritage Department (Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism), This is the unique culture of the ethnic minorities in the highlands of Lao Cai. After a year of planting, people often hold a ceremony to offer their ancestors the first grain of rice grain, meaning thanks to the rice god, praying for a bountiful harvest next year…

The Giay ethnic group in Ta Van (Sa Pa) often organizes eating new rice around August or September of the lunar calendar every year, depending on the time when the sticky rice is ripe. In Ta Van, families make nuggets to celebrate new rice and perform ancestral worshiping rituals, so the organization is simpler. In the families of Then teacher's family, they also make offerings to ancestors and then to ancestors, the organization is very sophisticated, with Then singing and Then worshiping for longer... According to folk artisan San Chang, the Giay live in the village in Ta Van, former Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the traditional concept of the Giay people in Ta Van, if the family celebrates in August, choose the day of the Rooster, if held in September, choose the date This is a unique ritual related to the sun worshiping beliefs of agricultural residents.

Both Tay and Giay people organize a new meal for each family. Each family can choose different days of the month to invite relatives and neighbors to have a new meal with the family. On the day of eating new rice, an important ritual is indispensable: procession of the spirit of rice and making new nuggets. Early in the morning, the ceremony takes place, women in the family go to their home's field, choose ripe glutinous rice flowers with just enough flexibility, take them home to make nuggets.

Glutinous rice products are also a traditional dish in the culinary culture of the Tay Liem Phu (Van Ban) people. In the season of nuggets, on a tray of rice ordered by the family of Ms. Luong Thi Hoa, the owner of a food service establishment of the Tay ethnic group in Liem Phu, it is indispensable for the specialty of duck nuggets to be special, many diners love this unique dish. Ms. Luong Thi Hoa said that: We also celebrate new rice like some ethnic brothers, including making nuggets to offer to ancestors. Also from com, the Tay people have made duck nuggets, sticky rice and roasted com.

Tay people in Nghia Do restore the traditional craft of making nuggets.

… to restoring and development of craft villages

In recent years, Na Lo nuggets (Ta Chai commune) and roasted specialties have become autumn gifts of Bac Ha highland. Com is sold at the fair, in Bac Ha town. Families that welcome guests to stay at home make nuggets for visitors to experience. Bac Ha flavor of nuggets follows tourists and traders everywhere, and the Tay people in Ta Chai commune also gain more income from making nuggets. Many families in the Tay village also know how to plant sticky rice in order to have sticky rice for making nuggets in 2-3 months. Glutinous rice in Ta Chai and communes around Bac Ha town is not enough, many families have to go to the fields of sticky rice bought by the Mong people to make nuggets. When there was no Covid-19 pandemic, tourists were busy, the Tay people in Ta Chai village could not sell in time, prices ranged from 120 to 150 thousand VND/kg of green nuggets, the rice crop itself, the price ranged from 120 to 150,000 VND/kg, in the main season 100 to 120 thousand VND/kg.