The festival of beating the drum full of national character is primitive and not mixed, which is the most exciting night festival in the year of Ma coong people. People are under the influence of the liquor of Ruou Can, and excited at the dances and the sweet voices of Truong Son people.

The legend of the festival

Elder people say that in the old time the land of Ma Coong people appeared a wicked monkey in yellow color, at night, it often entered into the virgin lands of village people to eat corns, rice. When the monkey appeared, Ma Coong people continuously loose crops, and being ill. The life of Ma coong people are always miserable. The villagers tried great efforts to cast out this monkey. On one day, when the key entered the village, villagers bet the drums, gongs to expel the monkey, the sound of the gongs and drums and the help of a slingshot make the monkey go away and then people collect good crops and their children are not ill anymore.  

To commemorate the gratitude of the slingshot the ancestor of Ma Coong people and spray for four abundant crops in four seasons, annually, on 16th February lunar calendar, they hold sacrifices to offers gods delicious food on the living land. That activity gradually become the big festival of the group of Ma Coong. The festival of beating the drum of Ma Coong people appeared since that time.

Beating the drum – the religious feature of Ma Coong people

On the whole day of 16 February, people of Ca Roong village are busy because this night is the center of the festival of beating the drum. Men prepare for the festival, women prepare food to welcome people from other villages.

Before the festival, people contribute anything they can do to the village, but could not lack sticky rice for the village to cook wine – the wine is made of virgin land sticky rice with leaf ferment , having the white color as milk, is only used to worship and invite honored guests. The village could not lack chicken, sticky ride to sacrifice. The hosting group to sacrifice consists of five people, who are head of the family name in the region and are considere the family name having the big credit to explore the land that Ma Coong people are living currently. They have the right to get the father ship to host the sacrifice annually.

When the sun behind the range of the mountains hides from the jungle, people of 18 villages go along the paths to come here to sacrifice, Arem people in Tan Trach arrive here, Ma Coong people from Laos also come here, the slingshot Dinh Cuu starts the sacrifice for the ground and the earth and worshipping the slingshot of the sunrise, and sunset to spray for timely rains and favorable conditions in this  year, good crops for corns, rice,   and people are healthy. According to the ritual, the festival of beating the drum is carried out including the part of ritual and the part of festival.

The ritual

In the largest space of the yard of the village, under the shade of the ancient tree, villagers together build up a range of small thatched cottages. In the main cottage used for sacrifice, they hang a drum. When it gets dawn, everything has been prepared, people gather in knots to wait for the moon rising.

When the moon rises behind the range of the mountains at the back of the village, the offerings are brought to display. The offerings to worship the slingshot include wine, chicken cooked with young rattan buds, fish, sticky rice, the blade of rattan trees, some rice…..Each village has a tray  and the sacrifice should have 18  trays as such. The responsibility to make the tray of offerings shoueld be the close people of the slingshot of each village.  

The tray of worshipping the slingshot includes Ruou can, chicken, fish, sticky rice. In this year, in Ca Roong village, the making of a tray of offerings is appointed to Dinh Hung who is the son of Dinh Xon.

After several times of spraying, the slingshot issues an ordeber and the festival of beating the drum starts. Villagers pour in, the visitors also pour in. Everyone tries to rival each other for collecting the drumstick to  beat the drum. In the center of the village yards, the firewood stack is loaded highly, the flame flickers, shows clearly the happy faces of people due to the alcohol yeast and the flame. .

The festival

The ritual ending is the time for the sound of the drum of the festival to start from the beating of one of the members of the host of the ritual. The sound of the drum is sometimes unhurried, sometimes rapid fire and mountains and the jungle. Everyone gathers to rival each other for drinking Ruou can. The alcohol yeast smells and young strong boys rival for the drumstick and demonstrate their skill in beating the drum strongly and quickly. People not participating in beating the drum hold the hands of each other to dance around the flame flickering.

The drum of the festival is made from the morning, the drum barrel is made of  the tree trunk, the feather of the drum is made of the feather of the ox, covering the drum by old rattan trees, wedged the surface of the drum by old bamboo trunk. Young boys are strongest to beat the drum. The drum should be bet until being holed before the morning, that the ground and the earth see the sincere heart of people, for the new year to get abundant crops. The sooner the drum is holed, the sooner the boys hold the hands of their partners to the jungle to talk confidentially. The young boys and girls often find the strongest person to beat the drum. Young boys are both beating the drum and shouting to make the jungle noisy. “ Roa lu Slingshot!”. ( it means so happy).

This festival night is also called the night “opening the door” it means that everyone, even strangers, people from other villages, all hold hands of each other to go into the jungle to talk confidentially. When the surface of the drum breaks down, a scene that I have never seen before appear: tens of young boys and girls, not only Ma Coong people in Thuong Trach but also people from the partner country Laos in the border gate Viet-Laos also hold hands to turn into the jungle full of light moon on the fifteen lunar calendar. The large yard becomes fewer people. Only older people, middle aged people and children play beside the cooking fire, or drinking Ruou can.

The cooking fire flickers. Hundreds of bottles of Ruoi can overflow. Thousands of people dance together in the sound of gongs and drums….the moon light is over the head, the sound of the drum hurries, the couples find each other and make appointments beside Aky river. ..

Each year, there is an only day of the jungle, of the long love story as the river. At this night, there is no jealousy, no anger, and only having the sweet of passion of the couples. ….They are side by side, hug each other tightly, the breaths are hurried… only the jungle sees, until the next morning, when the hens get up and coo, they start saying goodbye and arrive home. Then some with their wives, some with their husbands go to the terraced field and go down the river to continue to bring corns and rice to home with their children and late meal. Younger people make appointments, choose days to invite their parents, slingshot to come to the girl to attend a betrothal ceremony….

The festival lasts until the festival drum understand the heart of people. After a sound of the drumstick, the surface of the drum breaks down. The howling, the shouting starts and ends…. The festival night is full of happiness. All angers ….are omitted! Everyone forgives for each other and together spray: all have strong health, crops are  abundant. Also at this festival night, many couples  have appointments, choose days to invite their parents, slingshot to come to the girl to attend a betrothal ceremony... and after the festival, many couples become spousal for the group of Ma Coong to be more developed.  

The festival of beating the drum – the typical cultural character of the group of the West of Quang Binh

Ma Coong people currently have 287 households with  1.552 persons , living in 18 villages along the border of Viet-Laos and bordering with Tan Trach commune. The festival of beating the drum is held annually at the beginning of the spring of Ca Roong village ( Thuong Trach commune, Bo Trach district, Quang Binh province), the holy land of Ma Coong people.

According to the custom, Ma Coong people take Chi Cup ancient tree to make the blade of the drum. Each surface of the drum annually is replaced once in the festival. In the festival of thrusting buffalos, Ma Coong people choose the best feather to smoke to make the surface of the drum. Ma Coong people do not use hammers, or carve the surface of the drum but they use the rattan to string with each other and take the wedge of male bamboos to get the power from the people of the slingshot giving the roll of the drum from all night to the next morning.

The afternoon before the festival, the groups of boys in the village carry the old drum to the middle of the yard. The preparation for the festival starts…. The threads of rattan are dried up and put into a cooper pan to boil on the flickering fire. ...the feather of the buffalo is dried up, carefully protected are brought out. The phase of making the surface of the drum is supervised by the slingshot and is instructed carefully. The threads of the rattan are boiled and passed through the feather of the buffalo …

The drum is the soul of the festival, therefore, it is bet from the beginning day to 3h AM, and the surface of the drum become taut and breaks down. Thousands of people dancing and singing stop, everything becomes quiet in 30 seconds, then the shout starts covering the mountain of Ca Roong.

Men and women who are married are allowed to connect each other and leave their home one night. After the drum breaks down, they are allowed to kiss and cuddle and find the way to home on the next morning. At that night, there is no jealousy, no quarreling, hitting because of love jealousy but full of flowers, and bright moon. Adulterine night, the wild night is kept and protected for a long time by Ma Coong people.

The adulterine night does not have false rumors as the bravery and courage of Ma Coong people. Ma Coong people are allowed to make love in one night in a year with the person they like, and within the year, anyone who are adulterine will be punished strictly by the slingshot.

Mr. Le Hung Phi – the director of the Department of Culture – information of Quang Binh said that, the festival of beating the drum of Ma Coong people is the festival full of national character, which is still primitive and not mixed and full of characters of the ethnic group of the west of Quang Binh and is the precious possession which needs keeping and protecting for the next festival.

According to cultural researchers, the festival of beating the drum is rich in native character with the deep meaning is the wishing for blesses, and strength, and overcoming disasters, and common supports from the sun – earth for ethnic people everywhere. With many festivals from the North to the South, the festival of beating the drum of Ma Coong people has the unique feature which is the cultural character of the most national character. Despite the difficult conditions of the jungle, and experiencing the differences of many wars and hazards, up to now, Ma Coong people still keep and protect the values of this priceless cultural heritage. Because of the unique features and differences, in 2007, the Ministry of Culture-Information ( Now is the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism) put the festival of beating the drum into the list of 9 festivals of national folk festivals which have been survived.  

The festival of beating the drum of Ma Coong people is full of national cultural character of ethnic groups, it becomes the spiritual strength which contributes to helping the community of Ma Coong people to unite and overcome challenges and difficulties.