(VOVworld) – The Bana organize a buffalo sacrifice festival to worship the genies, celebrate a bumper crop or other important events during the year, or welcome a new spring.
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The buffalo sacrifice festival is held between the last lunar month of the old year and the third month of the new year. It’s the post-harvest season, when grain is plentiful and people have leisure time. The buffalo sacrifice thanks the genies and pray to them for good health and a bumper crop in the coming year. Dao Minh Ngoc, a docent at the Dak Lak Ethnic Museum, said: “The buffalo sacrifice is a sacred festival of the Bana. The festival consists of various rituals including worshiping genies, drinking wine, playing gongs, and crying for the buffalo.”
It takes the Bana several months to prepare for the 3-day festival. Strong men from the village are sent to the forest to bring home tall, straight Polang trees to make a Gun pillar and rattan to make a durable rope to tie the buffalo.
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The villagers choose a strong buffalo for the sacrifice, which is considered a message from the people to the genies. The ritual begins in the early morning. The buffalo is tied to the 5-m high Gun pillar. The pillar is beautifully decorated with flowers, pennons, and a phoenix symbol on the top. The village patriarch leads the buffalo around the pillar saying good words.
The patriarch reads prayers to the Heaven God for favorable weather, good health, and bumper crops. After that young boys and girls dance and play gongs and perform martial arts. A senior villager invites the villagers and guests to drink wine. The next day, 3 sorcerers and 2 patriarchs conduct the sacrificial rite to offer the buffalo to the genies and pray for good things.
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The villagers mourn the buffalo and acknowledge the buffalo’s role in hard farm work. All participants are given a portion of buffalo meat for good luck. Patriarch Bok Ny of Kon tum says: “The festival prays for favorable rains and winds. We also encourage the villagers to be self-reliant, work hard, and help each other to live a better life.”