[Photo] Unique custom of "keeping the rice soul" and "calling the rice soul" of the Xa Pho people
"Keeping the soul of rice" and "calling the soul of rice" are two distinct rites passed down through generations in the Xa Pho community in Kim Son commune (Bao Yen district). These rites represent the "soul" of the new rice-eating celebration in the Xa Pho community. Eating new rice is an essential cultural component for the Xa Pho people every autumn, when the fields become golden yellow and are ready to be harvested.
According to local custom, the Xa Pho women (the house owners) will access the rice fields first and perform the harvesting technique - "keeping the soul of the rice". The woman enters the rice field silently or to a designated position, takes some leaves, spreads them on the ground, or knocks down the rice plants nearby to place the leaves. Then she turns around, grips a few clumps of rice in her arms, holds her breath, and cuts three rice ears with a sickle before tying the leaves together and wrapping them in leaves.
Every time she cuts, ties and packs the rice, the woman has to hold her breath. After doing this three times, the three bunches of rice are tied tightly, then placed on a large leaf that has been placed underneath, wrapping the three clumps of rice together to “keep the soul of the rice”. Only then can the woman breathe and signal her children and grandchildren to go into the fields to harvest the rice.
Harvesting rice is mainly done by women. While harvesting, they thank heaven and earth for a year of favorable weather and a good crop.
After harvesting the rice, the rice clumps are put into “A Xe” baskets to be carried home. On the way, the Xa Pho people will “call the rice spirit” back with them using Nom verses, such as: “The rice spirit should return, follow the owner home”...
Once the spirit of the rice has been brought home, to prepare for the new rice meal, the Xa Pho people boil the sticky rice, then tie and dry the rice clumps in the family kitchen loft. The drying time lasts from about 8am to 4 or 5pm on a continuously red-hot wood stove.
When the rice has been dried, the Xa Pho people use a mortar (called "long") to pound the rice. In the culture of the Xa Pho people, in addition to being used to pound rice, "long" is also a tool to make sounds to communicate between families. When the "long" is knocked 3 times long, it means that the family has a death, but if the "long" is knocked 2 times long, it means inviting other families to celebrate Tet.
After pounding the rice, the women will work together to sift the rice to filter out the fine white rice grains.
When they have the white rice grains, Xa Pho women will return to their family kitchen to steam sticky rice and prepare dishes from crops grown on the fields, along with rice and dishes such as grilled fish, boiled chicken, etc. to present to their ancestors.
After presenting the ancestral offerings, the extended family will sit around the new meal. The woman, the head of the family, will sit in the middle. The children and grandchildren invite their mother to eat and drink wine to express their gratitude to the person who gave birth to and raised them.
The Xa Pho people's new rice ceremony cannot lack the festival with collective folk games, thereby demonstrating solidarity to create community strength.
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