Preserving Pa Co culture associated with eliminating bad customs

The Pa Co people's A-rieu-Ping is not only a tomb ritual and reburial ceremony to commemorate the deceased, but also a living testament to the spirit of solidarity, gratitude and thousand-year-old cultural identity.

The A-rieu-Ping festival is the most important festival of the Pa Co ethnic group in Quang Tri province, also known as the reburial ceremony or the tomb house ceremony. This festival shows filial piety and respect for ancestors and is an opportunity for people to gather, strengthen solidarity, solve community issues, and join hands to build a prosperous, prosperous and happy village.

A-rieu-Ping festival of the Pa Co people.

During this festival, the living take care of the deceased; take care of the graves of their ancestors, grandparents, and clans. The festival also reminds descendants to always be grateful to the gods, grandparents, and ancestors, and then pray for the world of gods to protect people and have standard ethical behaviors between people, between people and the natural world. Depending on economic life, every 10, 15 or 20 years, the Pa Co people in western Quang Tri organize the A-rieu-Ping festival once. Village elder Ho Van Mon, in La Lay village, La Lay commune, Quang Tri province, said that nowadays, in addition to traditional rituals, the A-rieu-Ping festival also includes sports competitions such as crossbow shooting, stilt walking, folk singing, and gong playing. “The A-rieu-Ping festival is a very beautiful festival in the life of the Pa Co ethnic group. We must always respect and preserve this festival, preserve that identity so that our descendants can understand. This is a belief that cannot be lost, we must always maintain it for future generations.”

People walked in a circle following the procession carrying horns, gongs, drums and dancing to the music and shouting.

On the first day of the festival, the villagers choose a flat piece of land in the center of the village and build a temporary house called An Trap. When the house is finished, the villagers will bring the ashes of their clan members there so that the neighbors can burn incense and pray for good things. After that, each clan will bring a goat and contribute money to buy a buffalo tied to wooden stakes. At each stake, a rope will be tied to the clan's grave.

The second day is the main ceremony of A-riêu-Ping. From early morning, people from different clans in traditional costumes of the Pa Co ethnic minority gather at the festival area. They stand in a circle, follow the procession carrying horns, gongs, drums and dance to the music and shout. The procession moves in a circle. In the middle of the circle are the animals that the clans bring, tied to wooden poles to offer to the deceased and the gods. After that, there is a buffalo stabbing ceremony to sacrifice to the gods and the deceased.

On the third day, people will perform a ritual to send their ancestors' souls to their resting place. And during the festival days, the sound of drums and gongs resounds continuously.

The group blew horns and other musical instruments in the traditional festival.

Mr. Con Them, in La Lay commune, Quang Tri province, said that the festival is the greatest spiritual cultural feature of the Pa Co people, showing respect to the deceased. A-rieu-Ping is also an occasion for descendants to gather and strengthen their relationships. “When the A-rieu-Ping festival comes, we have to organize it. The time to organize it is every 15 or 20 years, then there will be a big festival. We have to prepare carefully and preserve this festival. During the festival, there will be buffalo, cow, goat stabbings and then a worshiping ceremony.”

The rituals of the festival are performed in the correct order, but are simpler in the part of sacrificing to the gods. While in the past, many buffaloes and cows had to be sacrificed, nowadays each family only needs to bring a goat and contribute money to buy a buffalo to sacrifice to the gods, then slaughter it to treat relatives.

Pa Co people perform dances at the A-rieu-Ping festival.

For many years, local authorities, village elders, village chiefs, and prestigious people in the Pa Co community have always been interested in encouraging people to preserve this beautiful cultural identity. However, in organizing the festival, it is necessary to limit bad customs, costs, and offensive images. The Pa Co community also simplified the rituals in the A-rieu-Ping festival, replacing them with more economical but still solemn forms of worship, demonstrating the continuation of tradition in a civilized manner, suitable for the new life. Artisan Kray Suc, in Ta Rut commune, Quang Tri province, said that many places hold festivals but have been modified to suit economic and social conditions. The most important thing about the festival is to preserve and promote the cultural features of the community and let people truly enjoy themselves comfortably. “It is called the A-riêu-Ping festival, in which A-riêu means ceremony, Ping means tomb, and vice versa, it is the tomb festival. From that content, we understand that the activities of this festival are related to tombs. According to our Pa Co people, in addition to social life, there is also a spiritual world around. In this festival, we gather young generations to get to know each other and also to resolve the relationship between human life and spiritual life.”

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Source: https://baolaocai.vn/giu-net-van-hoa-nguoi-pa-co-gan-voi-bai-tru-hu-tuc-post881883.html