Before TOUCHING the EARTH – Section 2
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HUNG NGUYEN MANH1
… be continued for section 1:
Three Spadings
The ceremony to begin work in the fields among the Mường people takes place in the small hours of a morning set by the Vietnamese calendar. The village elder steps down the house on piles where a mortar to pound rice and some grains of paddy are ready. He pounds the rice three times with a pestle and waits for the sunrise (about seven in the morning). Then he goes with a boy or a helper to a spring – which provides irrigating water. But at this time the current is being checked by a small embankment.
His aide spades the ground once and takes a spadeful of earth to put on the embankment, then goes on with it two more times. This ceremony is called “tắp pài”.
Three Abundance
For Vietnam, the master of the ceremony is usually the village elder, his aide a man from the village council – chosen following three criteria. These are akin to the conception of three abundance: much happiness, much wealth, much longevity which are commonly thought of as three stars. This is very difficult to ascertain but Guangdong traders have aptly had three men drawn to symbolize the three abundance: an old man, a mandarin and a man with many grand-children – the picture was sold in Hanoi. This symbol is redrawn by Vietnamese picturedrawers.7
Why do people choose the master of the ceremony following the three abundance much longevity, much riches, many male descendants, without happiness and wealth?
Also according to Jean Przyluski, “happiness” is materialized in many children and grandchildren, “wealth” for the village comes from riches. This conception is maintained by Vietnamese according to “Nam Hoa Chân Kinh” by Trang Tử (third century B.C) which Legge has translated into “The text of Taoism” which reads among other things: “long life, riches and many sons are what men wish for”. It is the Chineses who change it into a new conception with the time: Happiness, Wealth, Longevity.
NOTE:
1 Associate Professor HUNG NGUYEN MANH, Doctor in Phylosophy of History.
7 Theo JEAN PRZYLUSKI – Les rites du “Động thổ”- contribution à l’étude du culte du Dieu du Sol au Tonkin – Le peuple Vietnamien – A contribution to the study of the cult to the Genius of the Earth in Tonkin – The Vietnamese People, edited by l’école FranÇaise d’Extrême Orient – Hanoi, pp 1– 6.
BAN TU THU
01 /2020
NOTES:
◊ Source: Vietnamese Lunar New Year – Major Festival – Asso. Prof. HUNG NGUYEN MANH, Doctor of Phylosophy in History.
◊ Bold text and sepia images has been set by Ban Tu Thu – thanhdiavietnamhoc.com
SEE ALSO:
◊ From Sketches in early 20th century to traditional rituals and festival.
◊ Signification of the term “Tết”
◊ Lunar New Year Festival
◊ Concerns of PROVIDENT PEOPLE – Concerns for KITCHEN and CAKES
◊ Concerns of PROVIDENT PEOPLE – Concerns for MARKETING – Section 1
◊ Concerns of PROVIDENT PEOPLE – Concerns for MARKETING – Section 2
◊ Concerns of PROVIDENT PEOPLE – Concerns for Dept payment
◊ In SOUTHERN PART of the COUNTRY: a HOST of PARALLEL CONCERNS
◊ The tray of Five fruits
◊ The Arrival of New Year
◊ SPRING SCROLLS – Section 1
◊ The Cult of The Deities of the Kitchen – Section 1
◊ The Cult of The Deities of the Kitchen – Section 2
◊ The Cult of The Deities of the Kitchen – Section 3
◊ Waiting for the NEW YEAR – Section 1
◊ Paying the last honours to CÔ KÍ” (The clerk’s wife) on the second Day of TẾT
◊ Before BEGINNING to WORK – Section 1
◊ Going for TẾT Ceremonies – Section 1
◊ Going for TẾT Ceremonies – Section 2
◊ Before Touching the Earth – Section 1
◊ Various Wet Rice Farmer’s Holidays and Festivals – Section 1
◊ Various Wet Rice Farmer’s Holidays and Festivals – Section 2
◊ Vietnam Lunar New Year – vi-VersiGoo
◊ etc.