One day after the worship ceremony held at the clan heads’ homes, the heads of the clans gather at the village head’s house. At this time, the village head serves as the principal ritual officiant, known as Mổ Cóc, while the clan heads, acting as So Vé, join him in conducting the ceremony. Since the principal officiant is selected each year through a process of election and divination using chicken feet, the village head may change from year to year, and consequently, the location of the ceremony may also change.
Whoever is chosen as the village head must build an additional structure adjoining the main house for ritual purposes. Members of the community come together to help construct this structure. Inside, a dry wooden beam is placed horizontally for hanging gongs and drums. In the past, the La Chí community also used bronze drums in the ceremony, including one male drum and one female drum. After the ceremony, the drums were taken to a cave in the mountains for safekeeping. However, in 1976, a member of the community, believing that the bronze drums contained valuable “black copper,” stole and sold them, damaging them in the process. Since then, the community has no longer possessed these sacred objects.
During the ceremony, Mổ Cóc and the So Vé are required to wear long garments and black conical cloth hats. A strip of cloth is attached to the top of each hat to symbolize a woman’s hair. According to oral tradition, ancestral worship among the La Chí was once performed by women in the family. One day, however, a woman heard folk songs calling from the distant mountainsides and went off to sing, forgetting that she was about to perform the ancestral worship ceremony. A man in the family therefore put on women’s clothing and wore a hat with an additional strip of cloth to represent a woman’s hair so that he could perform the ceremony. Since then, men have taken on this ritual responsibility and have continued to wear women’s traditional attire while conducting ancestral worship.
The La Chí do not use votive paper money in this ceremony. An ancestral story explains this custom. Long ago, when the La Chí and other ethnic groups were searching for land to cultivate, the other groups travelled more quickly and claimed the land they encountered by burning dry grass and leaving small piles of ash as boundary markers. The La Chí travelled more slowly. Wherever they stopped, they arranged three stones to make a cooking hearth and used branches and large pieces of wood as fuel.
Because the mountainous terrain was steep and the area was frequently affected by strong winds and heavy rain, the piles of ash left by the other groups were eventually blown or washed away. By contrast, the La Chí’s three-stone hearths, with their blackened scorch marks, remained. Although the other groups claimed that the land belonged to them, they could no longer find their markers and therefore had to concede the land to the La Chí. According to the story, this is why, when someone from another ethnic group dies, votive paper money is scattered as a symbolic payment to the La Chí for burial land. The La Chí, having land of their own and needing neither to ask for nor purchase land from anyone else, therefore do not use votive paper money in their rituals.
The village head, or Mổ Cóc, is the first to perform the worship ritual, followed by the clan heads. If the selected village head has not yet memorized all the ritual prayers, an elder with extensive knowledge of local customs assists and prompts him. The assistant’s attire differs from that of Mổ Cóc: instead of wearing a hat, he wraps a cloth around his head; he wears a short rather than a long garment, together with loose-fitting trousers. The assistant may also help the So Vé during their ritual performances.
Mổ Cóc recites prayers inviting the ancestors of the La Chí to return and celebrate Khu Cù Tê with the villagers, to share the meat of buffaloes raised by the community, to eat sticky rice grown on the fertile land of Bản Díu, and to drink sweet hoẵng liquor, symbolizing the villagers’ sincerity and hospitality. Mổ Cóc also moves the ritual object known as “Đoọc Khâu” back and forth while praying for healthy rice plants and abundant harvests.
After the village head completes his ritual, the clan heads begin theirs. Using buffalo horns filled with hoẵng liquor, they invite the ancestors of their respective clans to return and witness the devotion of their descendants. They pray for ancestral blessings so that their clans may grow in number and strength, their granaries and homes may be filled with maize and rice, and their stables may be full of buffaloes and horses. While reciting the ritual prayers, the clan heads drink liquor, take pieces of meat, and eat sticky rice, signifying that the ancestors have returned. They also share meat and liquor with one another as an expression of solidarity and mutual support among the clans.
The worship ceremony concludes with the beating of gongs and drums. At first, the group consists of two gong players and two drummers, who stand upright without swaying or dancing and perform an introductory rhythm. The clan heads then rise, hold a pair of drumsticks, and bow respectfully to Mổ Cóc and the other clan heads. The clan head playing the drum on the right moves his body to the rhythm, then circles clockwise to play the opposite side of the drum. The clan heads take turns performing in this manner. When the final So Vé finishes playing, the ritual ceremony comes to an end.
The host then prepares food and drink, and everyone who has come to witness the ceremony is invited to drink liquor and share buffalo meat.
Source: Adapted from the documentation on Khu Cù Tê Traditional New Year, Tuyên Quang Provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Provincial Museum.