Some typical cultural characteristics of Khanh Hoa Province, the land of aloe wood, are being introduced at the ongoing exhibition namely "Tourism through Vietnamese cultural heritages" in Hanoi. On this occasion, the event attendees can learn about the river wharf ceremony of Ede ethnic group who are living in Khanh Hoa.
Some typical cultural characteristics of Khanh Hoa Province, the land of aloe wood, are being introduced at the ongoing exhibition namely “Tourism through Vietnamese cultural heritages” in Hanoi. On this occasion, the event attendees can learn about the river wharf ceremony of Ede ethnic group who are living in Khanh Hoa.
Ede people in Buon Dung Hamlet (Ninh Tay Commune, Ninh Hoa Town) had prepared for the event for nearly one month. The river wharf ceremony is re-enacted in stage form within only 60 minutes but include all basic ritual acts, from the preparation process, the ritual acts to the festive activities with the typical dances of Ede ethnic group.
Traditionally, the river wharf ceremony of Ede people in Ninh Tay Commune lasts for three days. On the first day, they make preparations. On the second day, the ceremony participants perform ritual acts at the river wharfs in the village. On the last day of the ceremony, people gather at the house of the master of the wharf to perform worship of the gods and festive activities. However, in recent years, the preparation, ritual acts and festive activities of the river wharf ceremony have been performed in only over one day. The re-enactment of this ceremony at the ongoing “Tourism through Vietnamese cultural heritages” exhibition is arranged to include all basic ritual acts so that the visitors can visualize how the ceremony is, according to Y Hy, Secretary of Ninh Tay Commune Party Committee.
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Ninh Tay Commune has seven hamlets; Buon Lac, Buon Sim, Buon Tuong, and Buon Dung are the four hamlets where many Ede people live and still organize river wharf ceremony every year. Depending on the custom of each hamlet, the river wharf ceremony is held on the 1st day of Lunar New Year or on lunar January 14. The scale of the ceremony also depends on the economic conditions of the villagers.
Reportedly, the organization of the river wharf ceremony is usually discussed and decided by the village patriarch and village’s council. The ceremony can be held at a large-scale or small-scale or isn’t even organized due to some reasons. In recent years, many ritual acts have been reduced as a consequence of changes in local people’s life.
Through the re-enactment of river wharf ceremony in the stage form, Khanh Hoa Provincial Cultural - Cinema Center hopes to introduce a unique cultural feature of Ede ethnic group to people from other localities. Therefore, they had paid a lot of efforts on studying the details of the ceremony.
The 2020 “Tourism through Vietnamese cultural heritages” exhibition is organized by the Vietnam Exhibition Center for Culture and Arts (under the Ministry of Culture - Sports and Tourism) in Hanoi from November 19 to 23. This is an activity to celebrate Vietnam Cultural Heritage Day and contribute to promote and honor the values of cultural heritages and landscape of Vietnam.
Nhan Tam
Translated by H.N
