The New Rice Festival in Thai Hai takes place at the time of golden ripe rice. The new rice is carefully selected, ground, cooked into fragrant and sticky rice trays for offering and agricultural products are hand-processed by the skillful and sophisticated hands of Tay women such as sticky rice with five grains, Chung cake, banh chung, Lam tea, banh tet... and there is no shortage of Thai Nguyen's Xinjiang tea specialties.
The ceremony was chaired by the village chief, with the motto "Good harvest, peace and harmony". The faces of the solemn and respectful attendants, including the two young and beautiful French tourists present that day.
And the fire-reading ceremony to express the warmth of love is passed from person to person. Interspersed between the ceremony is a festival with fan dances, Then singing... with the support and cheers of local people and tourists. New Rice Festival therefore not only has religious significance but also "activates" Tay cultural values in modern life.
Thai Hai Village is a special community with the mission of preserving and restoring Tay ethnic culture. The stilt houses that were originally built with the "eating a pot together, spending a bag together" lifestyle have been maintained for many years, creating a rare model of solidarity.
Along with the New Rice Festival, Thai Hai also stands out for its way of preserving culture in daily life. Children learn Tay language, then sing, learn traditional crafts such as making cakes, cooking leafy wine, weaving fabric.
Adults grow tea, preserve stilt house architecture and develop community tourism. Thanks to these efforts, in 2022, Thai Hai was honored by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in the list of "Best Tourist Villages in the World", a recognition for the community in preserving cultural heritage and developing sustainable tourism.
New Rice Festival therefore becomes a moment for the Tay people to look back at themselves, to help tourists understand more about their cultural roots and to help the community strengthen the belief that traditional values can still be sustainable in modern times.
In the resounding gong sound, the new rice scent spreads, Thai Hai shows that heritage is preserved by the close life of the people, the perseverance of a community that values the past and aims for a harmonious and sustainable future.
