VOV.VN - The New Year period represents the biggest festival of the Dao Tien ethnic minority in the northern mountainous province of Bac Kan, with local people praying for a good harvest and the best things for their family.
The festival is held annually on the 16th day of the last lunar month, or January 7 this year. As part of this occasion, the head of the family will host a ceremony to pay gratitude to the ancestors and pray for the whole family.
The host then invites shamans to conduct the worship ritual.
Family members arrive at the house to clean up and prepare offerings for the New Year celebrations.
The ceremony invites deities and the souls of ancestors to participate in New Year celebrations with their descendants and then bless them with good luck. After the ceremony, family members can then enjoy a meal together.
Ethnic villagers stick small bags of cakes to a bamboo tree, thereby sending local residents’ wishes for a new year with fertility, sufficiency, and prosperity.
A man conducts the ancestor worshiping ritual to banish evil omens from a family.
Many villagers come to share the joy and dance after the ritual, thereby praying for good weather and harvest in the year ahead.
Local women begin to sew clothes for their families for the new year celebrations.
