The festival needs a quite flat and big space at the end of the hamlet to proceed. At the first stage of the ceremony rites, the village wizard, who dresses in a buttoned long dress, will burn incense joss-sticks and say prayers in his ethnic language. The primary content of the prayers is to notify the gods that villagers are all present at the field and invite the village’s saint to participate in the Festival and grant the villagers with prosperity and serenity. The oblations to Earth, Heaven and Rice Goddess are sophisticatedly prepared, including red-dyed boiled eggs, silver jewellery, red steam sticky rice and a Con (shuttlecock), all of which are placed on the altar by a unmarried girl to wish for a clement harvest.
Drums, Pi le clarinets and gongs are played to give the signal
that the worshipping ceremony is over and then come the game activities. Con-throwing is the opening game, in which players attempt to pierce a Con tree (topped by a circle covered by red and yellow paper symbolizing Sun and Moon respectively) by throwing a Con through it. The predecessor of the village will make the first throw, following by males and females divided into two opposite lines throwing 6 colorful Cons to each other.
The second game is tug-of-war played by a male group, representing Yang, the Sun and a female group, representing Yin, the Moon. The feminine force is supposed to pretend to loose and that is considered to bring back abundant crops for the whole village throughout the year. After the ritual practice, others festival participants such as youngster and foreigners is free to enjoy tug of war.
In the Festivals, girls and boys feel free to seek calm places to court by performing Dan Moi (Lip Harp) and singing for their lovers. At the end of the festival, the senior of the village hold a ceremony for praying and removing the Con Pole and two robust young men controlled two strong buffaloes to plough very first lines in the field, signalizing the start of a new crop.
In the Festivals, girls and boys feel free to seek calm places to court by performing Dan Moi (Lip Harp) and singing for their lovers. At the end of the festival, the senior of the village hold a ceremony for praying and removing the Con Pole and two robust young men controlled two strong buffaloes to plough very first lines in the field, signalizing the start of a new crop.
A foreign tourist participating in catching goat while blindfolded