The S’tiêng ethnic group in Tân Khai Commune, Đồng Nai Province, hosts a rain-praying ritual to pray for favourable weather, bumper crops, peace and prosperity. — VNA/VNS Photo K GửiH

ĐỒNG NAI — Đồng Nai Province has launched a rain-praying ceremony, a unique ritual of the S'Tiêng ethnic minority of the province, at Tân Khai Commune.

Điểu Nhem, an S'tiêng elder in Tà Cuồng Hamlet in the commune, shared that the rain-praying ritual is a beautiful tradition passed through generations to pray for favourable weather, bumper crops, good health, peace and wealth.

As the third month of the lunar calendar comes, the S’tiêng people are ready for one of the most important rituals.

Participants in traditional costumes present offerings, including traditional dishes such as cơm lam (rice cooked in a bamboo tube), sticky rice, grilled pork, stir-fried nhíp leaves (a kind of wild leaf from the Central Highlands), canh thụt (a soup cooked from wild vegetables), and rượu cần (wine stored in a big jar and drunk with long bamboo straws).

When the ritual ends and the sound of gongs echoes, people join in dancing and singing and enjoy food and cần wine together.

Nhem emphasised that the ceremony is a significant opportunity to educate younger generations to appreciate and preserve their ethnic cultural identity.

The S'tiêng people play gongs and dance to pray for rain. — VNA/VNS Photo K GửiH

Nguyễn Viết Đợi, vice chairman of the commune’s People’s Committee, said: “The rain-praying ritual has been organised annually to preserve and promote beautiful cultural values of the S‘tiêng ethnic minority in the province.

Đợi added that through the ceremony, the local community not only sent prayers for favourable weather, a good harvest, peace and prosperity, but also shared images of the homeland with domestic and international tourists, thereby boosting economic development and improving the cultural and spiritual life of the people.

The S’tiêng people are one of the largest ethnic minority groups in Đồng Nai. With this population size and long history, the S’tiêng community has developed its own distinctive cultural identity.

Their traditional crafts, such as the making of rượu cần, basket weaving and brocade weaving, were included on the National Intangible Cultural Heritage list by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in 2019, 2023 and 2024, respectively. — VNS