Ca Dong people mainly live in the mountains southwest of Quang Nam, settling mainly in two districts of Bac Tra My and Nam Tra My. Based on the viewpoint of uniting closely related groups of languages, cultural activities and self-awareness, ethnic ethnologists in our country have merged Ca Dong group into the Xe Dang ethnic group, the language Mon Khmer (South Asian language family).
Ca Dong people live in the high mountains close to Ngoc Linh mountain range (2,598m high) and low mountains adjacent to the Kinh village in Bac Tra My town. The current population is about 24,400 people. They settle in plots (villages) in high, open hillsides or halfway up mountains and near water sources. The boundaries between plots are delineated by streams or high hills. They are in rectangular, medium-sized stilt houses, with thatched or thatched roofs, the upper floor is used for living and living, the lower part is used for utensils, labor tools and cattle raising ...
Ca Dong culture is a significant part contributing to the overall picture of ethnic minority culture in the Truong Son - Central Highlands. Stemming from the production life, daily activities, beliefs ... that the people here have "possessed" their own unique cultural traits. For example, the sacred kitchen, and concepts of the god of fire (Yàng Pui).
In the past, Ca Dong people lived in high mountains by hunting, gathering and cutting, burning forest for cultivation, burning up very large fires at night to warm and resist the attack of wild animals. Over thousands of years, the image of the fire became familiar, close and entered the consciousness of the resident community. Ca Dong people believe in Yàng Pui. In the village, every home must have a fire stove set in the middle of the main house for daily cooking and the fire is also lit pink for activities and dancing during festivals. In addition to this traditional fire stove, they also set up a sacred stove just for cooking rice to worship in festivals (water troughs, buffalo stabbing, celebrating new rice, New Year's Day ...). Sacred kitchen is located in a closed room in the house where there are no people.
According to the concept of the Ca Dong, the sacred kitchen embodies a god of good fortune to bless the family that needs to be worshiped. Sacred kitchen always brings peace to the villagers, brings harmony, warm and happy life, creating abundant material wealth for each family. Because of these meanings, the Ca Dong people do not have the custom of taking Mr. Apple (the sacred kitchen) to heaven like the Kinh people, but he has to be with them regularly for five months and a lifetime.
Sacred kitchen is very carefully and strictly protected by the owner, children and strangers are absolutely not to approach. Especially do not touch, touch chopsticks or sticks, because doing so is an insult to the fire god, an offense to the god of luck and bad things will come to the family.
Setting sacred kitchen in the house is a very important and meaningful spiritual work. In the village, usually the host family is old, wealthy, crowded, or organized sacrifices to set the sacred kitchen. After receiving the permission of the village patriarch, the process of carrying the sacred kitchen home was carried out. The sacred kitchen of Ca Dong people is not made of earthenware, but is taken from three stones in the forest, where the watershed has a trough of water used by the villagers for daily drinking. According to the concept of Ca Dong people: the man is the symbol of the mountains, the woman is the embodiment of the water wharf, so the procession to bring the sacred kitchen from the gutters on the source to each family in the village is only owned by the mistress village (village old wife) implemented.
When Ca Dong people moved or moved to a new place, they did not bring with them a sacred kitchen. At this moment, they respectfully bring Mr. Apple to send in the ghost forests (where the dead are buried in the village) and place in the old tree stumps. The procession and installation of the sacred kitchen will repeat the same steps as before.
Không có nhận xét nào