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| RITUAL: Below shaggy vines, Sui Dơih (centre) – the celebrant – prepares choices together with a roasted pig, grilled meat, wine, hen liver and a bit of uncooked pork. |
Forest worship practices have existed within the consciousness and lifetime of ethnic minorities for a very long time, featured in native ceremonies and festivals based mostly on ideas of the universe and animism and represented by sacred forest gods.
Amongst them is the spiritual follow of cúng rừng (forest god worship) of the Jrai neighborhood within the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai. The occasion is a significant custom displaying attachment to Mom Nature.
Cúng rừng is a ceremony held to worship the Forest God, but in addition for locals to hope for good well being in addition to a bumper harvest. The Jrai individuals organise it to thank Forest God for safeguarding the villagers and offering all that’s underneath the forest cover, in addition to to teach the younger technology about forest conservation and safety.
Yearly, after native villagers full the harvest in late March, teams of Jrai individuals in Ia Pếch Commune, Ia Grai District, together with young and old, men and women, women and boys, observe one another on a small path main deep into the forest to attend cúng rừng.
They convey many choices to the worship altar within the coronary heart of the forest, which has been fastidiously chosen by an area shaman.
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| WORSHIPPING: The Forest God worship ceremony takes place within the presence of villagers from De Chi and O Grang, native authorities and forest rangers. |
This 12 months, cúng rừng happened subsequent to a small stream named Ia Cor – about 1km from O Grang Village. The spot was chosen by Siu Dơih, a village elder.
It started at 10:30am within the presence of the villagers from De Chi and O Grang, native authorities and forest rangers. Below shaggy wood vines Dơih – the celebrant –ready an providing tray of roasted pig, hen, grilled meat, wine, hen liver and a bit of uncooked pork.
He prayed to ask the Forest God, the Mountain God, and the Water God to attend the ceremony, obtain the choices and defend the villagers, so they may have a peaceable and affluent life.
In keeping with the custom of the Jrai, the forest worship ceremony is held merely, with out the beating of gongs. Choices additionally rely on the native situations that 12 months.
Rượu cần, a type of wine saved in an enormous jar and drunk with lengthy bamboo straws, is given alongside a tray of different choices.
Dơih in his Jrai ethnic costume, on behalf of the villagers, solemnly learn the prayers together with needs that the forest defend the villagers from pure disasters. He thanked the Forest God for supporting them prior to now 12 months.
Dơih stated in recent times, the Forest God has helped their life change and convey extra prosperity, happiness and security. To offer thanks, the village ready extra roasted pigs to supply to their god.
After Dơih completed his prayer, different senior villagers and aged continued the ritual.
The Forest God worship ceremony is a long-standing follow that has been handed down from technology to technology within the Jrai neighborhood.
Practised for hundreds of years, the ceremony has contributed to the richness of the nation’s conventional cultural values and notably to pure forest conservation.
In Ia Pếch Commune, practically 560 hectares is roofed by forest underneath the administration and safety of O Grang and De Chi villages.
The 2 villages take turns in holding the ceremony annually, which can be supposed to boost the solidarity between the Jrai individuals in several villages, based on the native authority.
Ngô Khôn Tuấn, chairman of the Folks’s Committee of Ia Pếch, stated by way of Forest God worship practices, the individuals had improved their consciousness of forest safety.
“They love the forest much more, thereby take part extra in educating others to affix fingers to guard it,” Tuấn stated.
Over time, forest preservation had been applied properly by villagers from De Chi and O Grang. The commune arrange a forest administration and safety workforce to work with them to spice up forest safety.
“The forest safety work within the commune achieves nice outcomes. In addition to defending present forest areas, the locals have additionally joined fingers in contracting afforestation,” Tuấn stated.
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| PRAYERS: Siu Dơih in his Jrai ethnic brocade costume, on behalf of the villagers, solemnly reads the worshiping phrases together with needs that the forest would defend the villagers from pure disasters and thanks the Forest God for supporting them prior to now 12 months. |
Đích Ích Hiệp, head of the Ia Grai District Forest Safety Division, was happy to report that forest administration and safety was a vibrant spot of the area people.
“Folks have significantly supported our useful forces in patrolling, controlling and planting timber,” he stated.
In the meantime, Đào Lân Hưng, vice chairman of the Ia Grai District’s Folks’s Committee, stated the district had paid consideration to cultural and religious actions related to forest safety for a few years.
The district pledged to proceed to increase the cúng rừng ceremony in varied communes, particularly areas recognised as scorching spots of forest encroachment.
It’s thought it might assist replicate the mannequin of forest safety so that folks might cooperate in strengthening the administration of the forest, based on Hưng
The cúng rừng ritual of the Jrai individuals shouldn’t be solely a cultural function of an agrarian polytheistic philosophy, however it additionally affirms the values of the neighborhood: “Dwelling within the forest and sharing a standard sense of defending Mom Nature and the broader ecology.”