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Ritual ceremony dedicated for 600 year-old Snow Shan Tea Tree - the most ancient one in Vietnam
18/12/19
It's indeed a very serious, thoughtful ritual ceremony which takes the shaman more than one hour to finish.
Shaman is praying to the 600-year-old tea tree
The oldest tea tree in Nam Ty (Ha Giang) belongs to Mr Hoang Sung Keng. This is a 600 year-old tree.
When we arrived, the shaman from Nam Pien village had already prepared all of offering needed for the upcoming ceremony. According to their tradition of H'Mong Ethnicty, offering must include an alive rooster, after the first round of praying, it would be killed right under the tea tree then people cook it to prepare for the second round. Other offering are five empty cups, a bottle of sticky-rice liquor and a thin stack of paper made from thatch.
Nam Ty is the village of the eldest tea tree in Vietnam. We had to travel across a lot of water falls, and high terrain to get there.
600-year-old tea tree of Mr Hoang Sung Keng
these offerings may look simple, the praying routine is very complicated
When the second round of praying started, Shaman Hoang Xuan Chieu with more than 40 years of practicing ritual ceremony in his villages, read the pray that he has learnt by hearts for decades. In his praying, we noticed there was a part mentioning about USA, France, Canada, Russia or Korea.. Turned out, he was telling the ancestor and the tea tree gods about the presence of international guests visiting his village today and he prayed that the above could bless them with health.
Enjoying a cup of snow shan tea tree obviously was not drinking a beverage but also experiencing a very rich culture of Vietnam mountainous areas.
Plugging some tea buds from the tea trees
And gives it to international guests
Guests started to throw a traditional scarf onto the tea tree branch to wish for health and luckiness
From: Binh Nguyen - Thanh Nien NewsPaper