Mach Trang is an ancient village located in the "eight communes of the family" worshiping King An Duong Vuong, formerly known as Mach Truong, located next to Co Loa citadel.
Through many ups and downs of history, Mach Trang village today still preserves very ancient traditional cultural features such as the custom of raising pigs or also known as khao Ļ custom. In a person's life, a male in Mach Trang village must undertake the responsibilities of raising pigs, raising pigs, and preparing vegetarian feasts.
Every year, there is a section that must raise pigs, assigned to the head of the group (the oldest person aged 54 according to the section book). The pigs are raised for two years, used on the Chap ceremony (November 30 of the lunar calendar). The pig must be a pure black pig with no white hair. The pig breeder is given 3 mau and 2 sao of rice fields for the ceremony, which are the best fields in the village. In addition, for four years, the pig breeder is also entitled to a leg of the pig used in this Chap ceremony each year (the first and fourth years are entitled to the front leg, the two middle years are entitled to the two hind legs). The pig breeder of the village can freely go anywhere, the villagers are not allowed to chase and beat him. Because the head of the ceremony also acts as the main celebrant, the pig breeder who has a physical deformity cannot be the main celebrant and must have someone else replace him, called a "huu ti". The pig breeder still enjoys the rights according to the regulations. Early in the morning of November 30, the villagers perform the pig slaughter ceremony: the pig's head is left intact, boiled and offered to King An Duong Vuong along with a tray of white sticky rice, wine, and flowers. The meat of Mr. ì was divided among the 4 hamlets of the village: Giáp Đông, Giáp Đoài, Giáp Nam, Giáp Bắc, which are now the 4 production teams of Mach Trang village.
In the ritual of the day of the ì feast, the village selected 27 elders to perform the ceremony. The participants in the ceremony must be people who are not in mourning, not disabled, and have both husband and wife and children.
The ritual of the Khao ì ceremony
After the rituals for the Chap festival are finished, the part of receiving the offerings is the special part. The special thing is that Mach Trang still maintains the traditional custom of receiving offerings of the village from the past until now, which is: Each tray has 4 elders sitting at the four corners of the mat, the offerings are white sticky rice, pork dipped in white salt. The elderly are called Toa Lao, clearly defining the seating according to age: Those aged 70 and above sit on the upper mat on the East side, those aged 60-69 sit on the upper mat on the West side, those aged 50-59 sit on the lower mat.
The position of receiving the blessing according to the regulations
The tray of blessing and the offering
According to cultural researchers: The custom of worshipping pure black pigs (called the Pteropus pig breed) has the color of agricultural beliefs of rice-growing people. The manifestations of the law of yin and yang or the ritual of praying for rain, the custom of worshipping pure black pigs... all express the wishes of farmers for water to plow, good crops, growth, and a prosperous life... Nowadays, the purebred Pteropus pig breed has almost disappeared due to crossbreeding.
The traditional cultural beauty of Mach Trang village will still be preserved, maintained and passed on, contributing to embellishing the cultural picture of Co Loa.
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