Cam Muong festival

When Spring comes, Lao ethnic people in Lai Chau Province organise their traditional Cam Muong Festival to pray to the Gods of the rivers and mountains, as well as their ancestors, for blessing. On the last morning of lunar December there are boisterous drumbeats everywhere.

For the worshipping ceremony, the sorcerer prepares seven trays of offerings, including silver necklaces and bracelets, white coarse cloth, brocade cloth, betel and areca nuts, lime, several threads coated with beeswax, bows and arrows, sword, wooden spinning tops, etc. At noon, a procession, led by people carrying trays of offerings on their heads, followed by a sorcerer, old people and the villagers, go into the forest, beating drums and gongs. In the forest, a bamboo-worshipping house with a wooden floor is erected under a big tree.

The sorcerer places the offerings at seven worshipping compartments dedicated to the ancestors (the main compartment), the grand parents and the Gods of the mountains, forests and land. The sorcerer burns candles made of beeswax and reads prayers to invite the Gods and ancestors to enjoy the feast with their descendants.

At the end of the ceremony, food and wine are prepared. All people enjoy the feast and dance around the fire until late at night. The sorcerer and old people give alias to the young people.

The festival lasts from the first to the fifth day of the New Year. On each morning, an old person in the family opens a jar of can wine to .worship the ancestors, then invites those who come to bless the family to enjoy the wine. In the common yard of the village, people dance and play such folk games as throwing the con (a ball made of cloth) and playing with spinning tops.