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If you were impressed by the Mong ethnic people's custom of robbing the wife during Sapa Lao Cai tours, you will be even more so by the Ha Nhi people's blanket-covering custom in Bat Xat, which takes place during their quite unique blanket festival. The blanket festival is actually pretty abstract and piques the interest of anyone. In this essay, we will learn about the Ha Nhi blanket festival.
The organization time and meaning of the blanket festival
The blanket festival is a unique celebration of the people of Ha Nhi, Bat Xat, and Lao Cai. It is the festival of the wind god and the earth god, also known as K'Hô Igià Igià. Every year, the celebration lasts three days in the sixth lunar month, with Dragon Day serving as the starting day. The K'Hô Igià Igià Festival is held in the forest known as "Ga hen strange gio" by the black Ha Nhi people. During the celebration, this is the only woodland where all black Ha Nhi ethnic people (including women) are welcome.
The Black Ha Nhi ethnic group's main season is Khô Già Già (Bat Xat district, Lao Cai). The celebration embodies the cultural and religious aspects of honoring the gods of agriculture, forest, water, soil, and love in order to pray for an abundant harvest, lush vegetation, livestock development, and healthy people. Have a happy and healthy life. The blanket festival of the Ha Nhi people not only has spiritual significance, but it also provides an opportunity for young people to meet, discover each other's other half, marry, and start a family. The blanket festival also consists of two parts: a solemn ceremony with full offerings according to traditional customs and a festival for community activities to have fun and for young people to find their life partner.
Blanket Festival of Ha Nhi people
The main events of the blanket festival
This festival is held by Black Ha Nhi people at 2 locations:
First and foremost, the festival will be held at home, and the owner will be required to prepare offerings, which will include: five thick cakes, a bowl of boiled buffalo meat, a bowl of ginger juice mixed with water, and four small bowls face down on the ground in front of the altar (according to local custom, the offerings will be prepared by the owner - by the wife; if the wife is away, it must be made by the eldest daughter, and even though the eldest daughter is married); The householder will make the first offering once the offerings have been prepared, followed by the children, from the youngest son to the eldest.
The host will take a bowl of ginger juice and divide it for each family member to take a sip, eat some cooked buffalo meat to enjoy fortune; Banh Mi and ginger wine are reserved for Mr. Apple and placed in the kitchen.
The celebration is hosted in the forbidden forest, which is located in the center of the hamlet and is closed on weekdays. There are many rare perennial trees that everyone keeps together in this forest, as well as a little home made of precious wood with a thatched roof that is more than ten m2 wide and created by people to allow the elderly and children to sit while attending the festival.
The worshiping rite takes place at night (so that the wind and earth gods can repose quietly). The shaman does not need to be a professional; he or she simply needs to be 50 years old or older and have had no bad luck throughout the year. Following the offering, everyone is welcomed to eat the offerings and is required to eat them all, rather than bringing them back.
The following day, the festival atmosphere is more joyful: lads and girls from the hamlet invite each other to the forest, and each individual will take 6 little sticks of firewood to pay for the event. On the third day, the entire village assembled to have the village elder - the eldest person - cut the buffalo hide and divide it among the families. If the number of buffalo skins is divided enough for each family to have 2 pieces, then that year's business will not be favorable, and if the number of buffalo skins has been divided but remains odd, then that year the villagers have a good harvest.
Blanket Festival of Ha Nhi people
The village elder plays the harp in the heart of the event, the old woman dances, and the young men and women sing to each other. Along with the dances, the festival includes a variety of sports such as swinging, swinging, and love singing... this is an occasion for the village's boys and girls to mingle and get to know one another.
Aside from religious rites and popular folk games, the festival features a very weird and distinctive habit, which is the blanket covering. Unmarried boys must always bring a fresh sheep blanket to the "Old Old Man" event. When they got there, they hid the blanket in a hole in a rock, under a bush or even in a... under their shirt.
The lads engaged eagerly and actively in the festival, particularly in activities that needed men to demonstrate their competence and bravery. Their goal is to entice "females" to pay attention to them. The sensitivity of the age of love will "tell" the guys which female has feelings for them and to what extent through the eyes of the girls. The guy quietly split from the usual game and sought to approach the beauty at an appropriate time. The lads use questions, invitations, jokes, and, of course, ridicule to explore and see how the "partner" reacts. When "the fish bit the hook," the guy took a more daring move, grabbing the girl's hand and... dragging it away. Of course, the girl will resist, but it will be the "right" kind of resistance; his hands appear to be loose, but his mouth is lovely, and his feet... follow people. The lad promptly took the blanket he had hidden, covered the girl's head, and escorted her to the edge of the woodland, stream, or wherever they might sit and converse.
Blanket Festival of Ha Nhi people
If they feel they cannot continue their love after confiding, they will split up and never mention the blanket story again. If all parties are satisfied, then wait until early am, when the guy will carry the girl back and "hide" at his house. After a few days, the groom's family will send someone to the matchmaker's house, requesting that the girl's family allow the young couple to freely learn about marriage. Covering the blanket is the first stage in the "robbing a wife" custom, which is identical to the "robbing a wife" custom of the Mong people. But it is the act of covering the blanket that distinguishes the Ha Nhi ethnic group, revealing a marriage customs distinct from the brother ethnic groups in general and the Mong ethnic group in particular.
The custom of blanket wrapping is still practiced in many places of the Ha Nhi ethnic group today, particularly at celebrations or cultural festivals of ethnic minorities. It is a traditional culture with Ha Nhi identity, which is both common and unique...
When visiting the northern highlands, many visitors are drawn to the different cultural elements of ethnic minority settlements, in addition to the unique festivals. The view here is so beautiful that you have to see it with your own eyes to fully appreciate it. Our Northern Discovery trips will assist you in accomplishing this.
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