The mystery of the magic rock in La Pan Tan

Trong Pao Sang village has a rock, the people call it the god rock. Every year, hundreds of people from all over Mu Cang Chai district come here to pray…

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.