Aza Tet

Time: October 1 - October 30 of the lunar calendar New Rice Festival (Aza Festival) is held in A Luoi District, marking the end of the old working year and the opening of a new working year. The time to conduct the new rice festival (Aza ceremony)  for each village is different because the organization date is decided by the village, however, Aza of all villages will be held in the 10th lunar month. If the Aza ceremony cannot be held on the selected date, the village will hold the ceremony 18 days later. Before the day of the Aza ceremony, Paco people go to their fields or fields to thresh the remaining stubble. That is a tribute to the rice plant because the rice plant has brought full stomachs to the villagers here with bowls of white rice and fragrant aquat cakes. From the evening of the 5th to the morning of the 6th, the people of Dut village prepared offerings to worship Aza. White rice, aquat cake, sticky rice, chicken, duck, pig, goat. In addition, the offering also includes something very sacred and indispensable to perform a ritual during the process of organizing Aza, which is tanghot - a type of flower made from bamboo, and dzèng panels. Every family wants to bring all the most precious offerings to worship the gods. After all families had finished preparing, the time for the whole village to begin the Aza ceremony had arrived. A village dignitary, following the orders of the village chief, sounded gongs to signal: the time for the Aza ceremony had arrived. In the past, people used goatskin drums or bamboo flutes to signal. At that time, there were few people in the village and they always stayed around the village chief's house. But today, the villagers are more numerous and come to farther places, so we have to use gongs to signal. After the sound of the gong ringing, people in the village lit incense, lit lamps and began to worship the gods. The gods worshiped during the Aza ceremony include: Giang Tro - similar to Than Nong of the Kinh people, representing crops; Giang Panuon - God of Trade; Giang Ponanh - God of Livestock, representing livestock; Giang Sutarin - Earth God, representing weather and land. Besides, each family and each clan has its own altar that is also offered on this occasion. When worshiping the bamboo, the Paco people want to thank them for bestowing blessings and creating prosperous crops. At the same time, they also hope that they will help in the new year to bring prosperity to their families, clans, and lush vegetation. Around the space where the Aza ceremony is performed, dzèng panels are hung to create a ceremony space. Depending on each family, the way to hang the dzèng panels will be different. There's also hanging around, there's also above. Offerings are displayed everywhere. Whichever house has the means will give more and more precious gifts. Just like banh chung and banh tet during the Lunar New Year of the people in the lowlands, aquat - a type of sticky rice cake without pistil of the Paco people, is an indispensable cake and is placed on the ceremony table very solemnly. In each offering, white branches of bamboo flowers - tangonot - are placed on top. While giving thanks to the trusses, the names of the trusses and the words of gratitude for the old year, the family prays for the new year to be said loudly and continuously three times. Only when all the altars have been offered will that be enough. Not only worshiping the altars, some families also worship ghosts on the street and in the forest. For them, ghosts are no longer a fear like in the past, but are also a part of heaven and earth. Therefore, when worshiping Aza, you also give those ghosts portions of cake, rice or pieces of meat, chicken... Whatever is given to the ghosts will be thrown away. Some families are afraid that the souls of their loved ones will not return in time for the new rice festival, so they go to the front yard to pray for their relatives to come home quickly to celebrate the new rice festival. At that time, they also chant the name of their loved one many times so that the loved one can hear it. After organizing the offerings at home, every family will take a portion of the offerings and bring them to the community house to celebrate with everyone in the village. At the same time, a common worshiping ceremony is also held for the whole village. These are the gods that protect the village and its founders. This is similar to the Kinh people holding the Autumn Festival ceremony to commemorate the village's tutelary god. Previously, when there was no community house, the offerings for the village would be brought to the village chief's house to celebrate together. Since there was a community house, this activity has been held here. This also brings convenience to people in the village. That is to avoid the rain and have a larger space for everyone to participate. Every family wants to win the best offerings. All are displayed in the middle of the community hall. We bring aquat cake, we bring sticky rice, we bring chicken, we bring pigs. One thing that is indispensable is a jar of wine. After all the families in the village had gathered at the community house, the village chief gave a signal and people in the village began to pray for peace, harmony and prosperity for the village. After that, just like in every house, everyone held bamboo flowers and threw them on the ceiling for community activities and laughed. This represents Aza's completion. After the village's communal worshiping ceremony is complete, the village chief beats the gong to signal the village's joy for a new season and the beginning of a new year. The village chief beats the gong in harmony and is accompanied by the sound of another young man's goatskin drum. This represents the transfer of heaven and earth and the continuity over time of the village's traditions. As soon as the resounding gong-drum melody ended, the young men and women in the village began to walk around the village's worshiping place and dance the pochiengcoon dance. This is the first dance in the Aza ceremony of the Paco people. Then, to recreate the farming work of the past season, the girls in the village will again dance the rice threshing dance. On the other hand, that dance also represents the wish for a new, prosperous farming season./.