(HBO) - On the first days of the year, I went back to a beautiful land. There is a dish that enters the beautiful verses: "Mai Chau smells the sticky rice even if in women”. Even the sticky rice is as salty and seductive as Thai women themselves!
Thai ethnic women in Chieng Chau commune (Mai Chau) are prepare ingredients to make the traditional rice, Lam.
Going from the town to Da Trang Pass, people cannot help "falling in love” with the beautiful natural scenery which is like the paradise. Stop by a small stall with the fragrant sticky rice grown on the highland, it's easy to fall in love and it seems like you don't want to leave! When the hot smoke emits with a gentle fragrance, we can feel the quintessence of the cuisine of Thai ethnic people in the Northwest in this dish. Each grain of rice is stretched and shiny, naturally colored from leaves with eye-catching colors.
Being fascinated and curious how to create five-color sticky rice of Thai people, we went to Chieng Chau commune. Ms. Kha Thi Luan was born and raised on this land, so she knows all the secrets to cook the typical Thai dishes. We visited her house at the right time when she was dyeing rice for food, preparing for the family's year-end reunion meal, Ms. Luan said: Five-color sticky rice is an indispensable traditional dish in Thai rice trays, especially during the holidays and Tet of the Thai people in Mai Chau. To make the colorful sticky rice, it is necessary to choose a delicious variety of sticky rice grown on the terraced fields of the valley and it must be undergone the meticulous processing steps. After being soaked for many hours, the rice is dyed and then brought to the wooden pallet to be steamed twice. It is well-done for the first time, stir well, and the sticky rice is made softer and more flexible for the second time. The color of the sticky rice also has special meanings: The red represents the abundance, the yellow represents fullness, the purple is faithful, the white represents the pure love, and the blue is the color of the mountain in the Northwest forests.
Enjoying the upland sticky rice, you can have it with the grilled chicken raised on the hills, the grilled skewer pork or juicy stream fish. Even, there is no need to be so sophisticated, simply enjoying it with a bowl of sesame salt is enough to make the "ecstatic” taste.
Not only the sticky rice, the traditional dishes of Thai ethnic people show the combination and harmony with the spirit of the mountains and the simple humanity. For them, cuisine is an art that has become a deep and traditional cultural feature. According to Ms. Luan, to welcome the new year with lots of luck, Thai families bring areca nut and betel leaves inviting the village shaman to worship the ancestors, ward off the evil spirits and ask for good things from lunar December 24th to 26th. As the shaman is always respected most in the village in the Thai people's concept. The shaman can talk to the yin people, sending the best wishes of the existing peopel to the ancestors. For them, these days are an occasion to show the filial piety to the died people.
Normally, Thai dishes are divided into 5 different parts such as: Cham Cam (the dipping sauce is placed first); Cam Nam (the drinks are placed second); Cam Cap (the junk food is placed third); Cam Kin (the food is placed fourth); Cam Khau (the rice is put last). Appearing on the tray of rice on the last day of the year, there are also other special traditional dishes such as: grilled fish, dried meat, wild vegetables, bee pupa... All the dishes are made from the completely raw natural material, which is carefully marinated. In particular, the typical spice used by Thai people to marinate is "Mac Khen” (the wild pepper). A unique feature of Thai cuisine is that when cooking the dish they do not completely use the fat or the cooking oil, the cook carefully focuses on marinating with the spices in a suitable and harmonious way to create the dishes that are both delicious and attractive, attracting the enthusiasts of the traditional ethnic cuisine.
Phong Phu commune, Tan Lac district of Hoa Binh province, is widely regarded as the cultural heartland of the Muong ethnic group. Among its many traditional communities, Luy Ai hamlet (formerly Ai hamlet) stands out as a rare location where the customs and way of life of the Muong Bi people remain largely intact.
The Truong Kha temple festival, a distinctive cultural event held every three years in Vu Ban township, Lac Son district, returned recently with vibrant rituals and folk traditions of the Muong people. Located next to the Buoi River in the Muong Trao fields, the Truong Kha Temple is dedicated to the three Kun Dol deities, revered for teaching farming techniques, irrigation, weaving, and protecting the harvest.
The demand for spaces serving community activities of residents in various areas across Hoa Binh city has been satisfied as local cultural houses now feature modern, spacious facilities thanks to the effective implementation of Resolution No. 49/NQ-HDND issued on December 28, 2021 by the city People's Council, which approved the plan for reorganising, converting, and allocating land for the construction, repair, and expansion of cultural houses in Hoa Binh’s villages and residential areas until 2025.
At the end of May, the Hoa Binh Provincial Ethnic Arts Troupe organized a series of performances for residents in Region 2 and Region 3 communes across the province. Bringing art to ethnic communities in remote, isolated, and especially disadvantaged areas has become a meaningful activity. These are not merely artistic performances but also journeys to disseminate cultural values, enrich spiritual life, and contribute to preserving the cultural identity of ethnic minorities.
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