Villagers dance and sing around the totem tree (Source: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) - The first day of the new year is also time for the Sedang, anethnic group among the 54 ethnicities of Vietnam, to celebrate their New RiceFestival.
Oneof the most important festivals for the Sedang, the festival is held at thebeginning of the year to appease the spirit of the rice, to celebrate abountiful harvest and to pray for good fortune in the new year.
Thefestival begins with Sedang families going to their rice field to pick the mostbeautiful rice plants and bring them home. Families must prepare food offeringsto the spirit using the new rice.
Onthe day of the ceremony, a village elder summons everyone to the village’s nharong – the Sedang’s communal house where the majority of their spiritual andsocial activities take place. Young men erect a cay neu – a tall tree with atotem on top of it – in front of the house.
TheSedang dance and sing around the tree. Their musical instruments include gongsin various sizes and the Klongput – a wind clap xylophone. Made of bodies ofbamboo trees cut and designed in different length, the xylophone sound is madewhen people clap their hands near one of their ends.
Mostof the Sedang villages, which house a total population of nearly 100,000, arelocated in Vietnam’s central highlands region. Isolated and often withoutcontact with other villages, the Sedangs were said to be fierce warriors yearsago. The Sedangs now make farming their primary occupation.-VNA
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Villagers dance and sing around the totem tree (Source: VNA) 
