The magic rock in La Pan Tan. Photo: Thai Sinh. I was told by many people about the sacredness of the magic rock located in La Pan Tan commune, where there are beautiful terraced fields, which in 2020 was ranked as a special national scenic spot by the Prime Minister, in 2020. Especially the Raspberry Hill makes many people fascinated by the wonderful creativity of the people here. I have been wandering around the land of Mu Cang Chai (Yen Bai) for many days, heard many stories about the magic rock but did not know where it is located, until today, the Secretary of the Youth Union of La Pan Tan commune was named: Mr. Lu A Tu led him up to see and tell the stories that his own family had come to beg for with many inexplicable mysteries. It turned out that the magic rock was located next to the road from the headquarters of the People’s Committee of La Pan Tan commune to the Mam Xoi hill. From the concrete road to the place where the god resides, it is only about 50m, passing several terraced fields and a small stream. Miraculously, around the rock are terraced fields, absolutely no other rocks, as if this rock was lifted by some magical hand from another place to put it neatly here. The rock is vertical, almost as high as a two-story house leaning against the strip of land like a dragon’s body, and the rock is the dragon’s head slithering from the top of Ta Xa mountain down to the stream to drink water. People come to give thanks to the god rock. Photo: Lu A Tu. An old story has it that, in the rainy season of that year, the rain was so heavy that it lasted for a whole month, it rained continuously and persistently, causing the soil to loosen, and thunder and lightning were so intense that no one dared to step foot out of the house. On one night, there was a huge thunderclap that shook the whole mountain and forest, the sleeping children cried and cried, the old people crouched as if the mountain had collapsed, the sky was as black as kitchen ash suddenly lit up, looking up at the top of Ta Xa mountain. saw a flash of light along with the sound of thunder, and the thunder lasted for half a chicken without stopping. Early the next day, people looked up at the top of the mountain and saw a huge gap, then last night lightning struck the mountain top and split the rock, half drifted down to Pu Nhua which was the wife’s island, half drifted down the Hang. When Sung met the mountain, he stopped by the stream, which is the husband island. The Mong people call it Na Chi Khua Pao De. That is, the parent rock or the magic rock. Lu A Tu sat down on a stone by the stream and told me, his daughter’s name is Lu Thi Tuyet Nga, born in 2016, when she was over a year old, the stunted person couldn’t eat or sleep and cried all day, walking unsteadily with shaky steps… I don’t know what the disease is, no matter how much medicine I take, I can’t get rid of it, and even inviting a priest to worship doesn’t do anything. The new couple discussed taking the baby to the rock to ask for a name, like asking for a god’s adoption. As a union cadre, Tu didn’t really believe in such things, but his parents urged him so he and his wife took their child to carry a thread to make their ass. Three days before taking their daughter to ask for the health of the magic stone, the couple ate, drank, slept very pure, bathed the child with fragrant leaves, they chose a beautiful time to take their daughter to the place where the divine rock resides, place thread on the rock, the couple and the child knelt down to pray: My name is Lu A Tu from Ta Chi Lu village, today with my wife and my wife brought our daughter, Lu Thi Tuyet Nga, to ask Na Chi Khua Pao De to accept it. My daughter is adopted. God of stone, please give my child good health, grow up fast, walk as steady as a stone… The vows of the couple Tu are very long with sincere hearts and praying to the stone god to protect their daughter. After making offerings, they tie a thread to their daughter’s wrist and call her Goat. Goat, Hmong means stone. Since that day, Lu Thi Tuyet Nga is the adopted child of the stone god Na Chi Khua Pao De. Unexpectedly, after that day of worship, the girl ate well, slept well, her steps were steady, no longer shaking and falling like before. To repay the favor to the god rock, from the 2nd to the 5th day of the lunar new year, Lu A Tu and his wife choose a day to bring a chicken or a piece of pork to the foot of the rock to give thanks. The people knelt at the foot of the god rock. Photo: Lu A Tu. Vang A Sao, an officer of the Mu Cang Chai Protection Forest Management Board, from Pung Luong commune, said: Any family who comes to ask for a stone has the god of health, luck, rice and cattle… they have to pay the ceremony for three years. The stone god ceremony is simple, just a chicken, or a piece of meat. That piece of meat must be kept from the family’s Tet slaughtered pig, not meat bought at the market. Any family that can do business should bring a pig about 15-20kg to give thanks… The old people come to the ceremony to stick talismans on the stone for good luck. Photo: Lu A Tu. According to Lu A Tu, from the 2nd to the 5th day of the Lunar New Year, hundreds of people from all over Mu Cang Chai district come here to celebrate, some 200 people a day. They built a kitchen along the stream bank around a rock several tens of meters long, they slaughtered chickens and pigs to make offerings around the rock to worship. After the ceremony was over, they ate and drank at the foot of the rock… Looking at the foot of the rock, I saw that there were many bowls and rice bowls left behind and a few handfuls of unlit incense, Lu A Tu pointed to a small altar attached to the stone niche and said: People worship here, people worship on the ground, You can worship anywhere around this god rock… The sacrifices of the deceased shamans were brought by the family members and left on the rock. Photo: Thai Sinh. Looking up at the side of the rock, there are wooden slats like altars or stairs that have been left on it for a long time. I asked why there were items placed on it, Tu explained that: It was the altar or the sacrifices of the shamans, after the shamans died, the family carried those things on their backs. the stone, as if returning it to the magic stone, or having the magic stone bring it to the dead in the afterlife, or the things of the god stone, just return the god stone… The dress of the person who came to the ceremony left behind. Photo: Thai Sinh. I looked down at the stream and saw many new dresses and shirts as if someone had brought them up and left them here. Tu explained that many sick people want to be healthy, they wear two shirts or skirts each, one new and one old, and place at the foot of the rock to pray. After praying, they wear a new dress or shirt, and the old dress and shirt are left behind. The dress and shirt worn carry the power of the magic stone, that person will be healthy and less sick. The mountain wind blew those skirts and dresses down the stream that I saw. Tu bent down and lifted a dress from the stream to show me, the dress sent back to the magic rock with the belief that it would give them health. On the way back, Lu A Tu continued: My father was told by the elders that that year, a couple brought a son about 6-7 years old, who was sick and crippled, his studies were not going anywhere, so he came to ask for help. The stone god of health and wisdom. They worshiped at the foot of the rock, when they bowed their heads to the rock, the boy saw an old man with white beard and white hair appear from the rock to help them up. Suddenly, the old man was nowhere to be seen, and when he returned home, he told his parents. After that day he was healthy and studied very well, was appointed as an official… Another miracle is that the stream at the foot of the magic rock never dries up, March is in the middle of the dry season, all over the mountains and forests of Mu Cang Chai are dry, many streams are dry at the bottom, especially the stream at the foot of the rock. Not big, but the water is abundant all year round.

Family members perform the fire dance to pray for good luck and goodness. Each ethnic group has its own unique and distinctive customs and practices creating the richness and diversity of cultures of the ethnic groups in the area. The fire dancing custom of the Red Dao people at the beginning of the year is one of those characteristics … To reschedule up… The fire dancing custom of the Luc Yen Red Dao (Yen Bai) is usually only held on a small scale in the household. Households that practice fire dancing will be passed on from generation to generation. This activity is held every 3 years with the aim of banishing bad luck, praying for family members to have health, a good crop, good life, and a full life. To see firsthand the custom of fire dancing, we went to Khai Trung commune, Luc Yen district on the 4th day of the Tan Suu Lunar New Year. This is a locality where over 90% are the Red Dao people. Thuy Dieu slope winding along a misty mountain slope leads us to this upland commune. Passing the slope a large, flat green plain surrounded by limestone mountains appeared before your eyes. In that green plains is the life of nearly 1,500 Red Dao people. Mixed life of the people is the green color of the mountains, the white of the plum blossoms, the plum blossoms, the red color of cherry blossoms … All combined with the shimmering colors on the dresses of the Dao girls who are bustling in springtime create a poetic spring scene here. The fields, upland fields are also gradually “put on themselves” a lush green with spring sky and earth. “Over the past years, along with focusing on implementing economic development programs and improving the lives of people, the Party Committee and Khai Trung commune authorities have also paid special attention to propaganda and mobilization of people to preserve and upholding customs and practices with many traditional cultural values, prominent such as the restoration and maintenance of the seasonal festival, fire dancing customs of the Red Dao people ”- Mr. Hoang Van Cau, Chairman Khai Trung commune People’s Committee said. Rooster is an indispensable mascot in the fire dance ceremony. “Dance” in the coals for good luck Mr. Trieu Tai Quan’s family is one of the few families in the commune that still maintain the custom of jumping fire. This custom is like a “karma” that only in Mr. Quan’s family can carry out from generation to generation. Every three years, Mr. Quan’s family holds a fire jump on the occasion of the New Year. Before the fire dance festival, his family prepared a tray to worship and ask for permission from the ancestors, the gods about the organization of the fire jump. Mr. Phung Thua Hoc – The priest at the fire dance ceremony shared: To prepare for the fire dance ceremony, the host family must invite the priest and prepare the participants to dance about a week earlier, according to the previous regulations. The boys chosen to participate in the fire dance must keep their bodies clean, do not kill, and do not engage in boy and girl affairs for at least 3 days. However, today these regulations are no longer mandatory and strict, just before joining the fire jump the boys wash and wear clean clothes. When it was dusk, a large fire was prepared in the middle of the house, when the fire was almost gone, only bright red coals were the sound of gongs that started the ceremony. In the pounding sound of gongs, 2 priests began to pray for permission of ancestors and gods and read the names of those who participated in the fire. At this time, the participants of the fire dance sit on a bench next to the offering tray and wait to do the “spell” of mindfulness. Listening to the rush of gongs, participants enter the fire as if they are empowered, their bravery will vibrate, shout a sound and jump into the embers with bare feet. They even used their bare hands to throw hot coals into the air and began to “bathe” the fire. Participants will take turns jumping and charring until the fire is over. After participating in the festival, the firefighter’s costumes were only dust, dirty, not scorched, nor were their limbs burned. When the fire dance is over, the two shamans continue to do some rituals to finish. Mr. Phung Van Doanh, a fire-jumping participant, said: The first time joining the fire dance, looking at the red coal was also very apprehensive, only afraid of being burned, but when he was “allowed” by the priest, he was like receiving. More strength, somehow unable to sit still, just rushed into the fire. Having participated a lot, but I have never suffered burns even if I was small. The fire dance practice is practiced by many ethnic minorities, becoming a unique cultural ritual that has existed for a long time. In each community, there is a different way, scale and time to organize but all have the same origin from the worship of fire god, a symbol of life, prosperity, happiness and indispensable in life. human life. At the same time, it is an opportunity for people to give thanks to their ancestors and wish for a good crop and a full life.