New Rice Celebration – The cultural identity of the La Chi people

The New Rice Celebration is a traditional custom deeply rooted in the cultural identity of the La Chi people. It expresses their gratitude to their ancestors, joy over the harvest and hopes for a prosperous and peaceful life. Preserved through generations, the ritual is not only closely associated with the agricultural cycle but also helps strengthen community bonds and pass down traditional cultural values.

La Chi women select the finest ripe rice stalks in the fields and bring them home in preparation for the New Rice Celebration.

In the ninth lunar month, when the seasonal rice fields begin to turn golden, the La Chi people choose an auspicious day to hold the New Rice Celebration. Before the ceremony, women in each family go to the fields to select and harvest the finest ripe rice stalks, which are brought home and dried above the kitchen hearth in preparation for the ritual. On the day of the ceremony, elderly family members thresh the harvested rice and pound it into young green rice flakes or steam it into sticky rice to offer to their ancestors. Traditional offerings include sticky rice made from the new harvest, rats and fish, with some families also preparing bees. Rice wine is served in buffalo horns, while ginger is another indispensable offering, believed to serve as a link between the spiritual and earthly worlds.

La Chi women thresh the newly harvested rice to prepare ingredients for making rice and young green rice flakes to offer to their ancestors.

Following the New Rice worship ceremony, family members gather to enjoy the fruits of their labour, drink rice wine from buffalo horns and share the joy of the harvest. The ritual also marks the beginning of the seasonal rice harvest. The festive atmosphere is further enlivened by traditional folk games such as spinning-top competitions, con throwing and pole climbing, creating opportunities for social interaction and strengthening community ties.

The La Chi New Rice Celebration features traditional offerings, including sticky rice made from the new harvest, ginger and rice wine.

The La Chi people currently account for approximately 12% of the population of Xuan Giang Commune, with most living in Ban Tat, Gia Nang and Lung Vi hamlets. Since 2025, the Xuan Giang Commune People's Committee has organised the New Rice Celebration to promote and introduce the cultural identity of the La Chi people, bringing their rituals, customs, cuisine and folk games to a wider audience of local people and visitors.

Once all the offerings have been prepared, the ritual practitioners begin the New Rice worship ceremony.

However, many prayers, ritual practices and folk knowledge are still passed down primarily through oral tradition and depend heavily on elderly people, ritual practitioners and those familiar with traditional customs. As some young people leave their hometowns for study and work, these cultural values face the risk of gradually fading away. In response, the locality has identified the need to combine festival promotion with heritage preservation within the community. Key priorities include promoting the role of traditional knowledge holders, encouraging younger generations to learn about and practise their cultural traditions, and collecting and documenting the distinctive cultural values of the La Chi people.

Following the ceremony, family members and friends gather around the new rice feast, drink rice wine from buffalo horns and share the joy of welcoming the new harvest.

Thus, the New Rice Celebration is not only an occasion to honour the fruits of agricultural labour but also an important means of preserving and passing down the cultural essence of the La Chi people in contemporary life.

Hong Nhung