VietNamNet Bridge – The controversy over the “Le Hoi Dam Trau” or buffalo slaughtering festival in Vietnam’s Central Highlands became very hot on the local media recently. Some said that this is cruel and it should not be preserved but others said that this is unique cultural feature of the Central Highlands, which must be preserved and introduced to the world.

VietNamNet talked with Associate Professor Nguyen Van Huy, member of the National Heritage Council, about this.

VietNamNet: What is the meaning of the buffalo slaughtering festival for the Central Highlands people?

Prof. Nguyen Van Huy: Firstly, I have to say that there is no so-called “buffalo slaughtering festival” in culture of the people in the Central Highlands. This is the name made up by Kinh people, cultural and tourism agencies and the media.

For people in the Central Highlands, buffalo sacrifice is part of the rituals to worship Giang (God), part of the funeral rites, etc.

Calling this rite “buffalo slaughtering festival” is misleading and turning part of cultural rituals into a festival is something very far from the origin of the native culture.

To understand the meaning of this rite, you should read an article about “crying for buffaloes”, which is collected by Professor Ngo Duc Thinh. The article shows the outlook on life, the living philosophy, the close ties between human beings and living beings in the culture of the Central Highlands.

Vietnamese people often whisper “I help your reincarnation” when they slaughter chickens or pigs. That’s the sign of their belief in soul.

The buffalo sacrifice rite has been changed so the people don’t understand its true meaning. Buffalo sacrifice has become buffalo slaughtering.

VietNamNet: Do you think that the changes are suitable with the development? The changes were made because the change in the awareness of the Central Highlands people or they were forced to change?

Prof. Huy: In the past two decades, the cultural policy has been changed a lot, and now it aims to restore and preserve traditional culture and turn tradition into goods which can be traded through tourism.

In many locations, in the name of “restoring the space of gong culture”, local governments supplied local people with gongs and money to force people to learn how to play gong (if they join class that teach them to play gong, they will get allowances). Many gong troupes were also set up.

It is similar in the case of buffalo sacrifice rite. Local governments gave people buffalo and paid for buffalo sacrifice rite to urge local people to… stab buffaloes again, though local people didn’t want to do the rite again.

For people who are still interested in native culture, they wanted to perform true traditional rites. Accordingly, the buffalo is only sacrificed after a worshipping rite, which is the essence of the buffalo sacrifice. However, the organizers of buffalo sacrifice festivals didn’t want to have that rite because officials didn’t understand the language of Central Highlands ethnic groups so they couldn’t sit under the sunlight for a long time to wait for old men to hum a poem crying for the buffalo. So the buffalo sacrifice rite is shortened, with only the buffalo being stabbed. The meaning of the rite disappeared,

It is disrespectful and offensive to split the buffalo sacrifice rite from the spiritual meaning and the original meaning and turn it into a festival and a stage event for fun and for making money. It is similar to attending a death anniversary but the invited guests are only interested in tasting the cooking, not burning incense for the dead.

VietNamNet: Many people said that it is cruel to kill the buffalo in the cheer of many people, especially when buffaloes are the symbol of Vietnam, of the rice civilization. What do you think

Prof. Huy: They should not impose the values and the feelings of their ethnic group (rice civilization) into the culture, the value and the sentiments of other ethnic groups, who have different cultural space and values to evaluate the buffalo sacrifice rite.

The Central Highlands people are benevolent and have love for human beings, the nature and living beings like any ethnic group in the world.

VietNamNet: Vietnam also has pig chopping festival, buffalo fighting festival, etc. Do you think that such “bloody” and “violent” festivals are suitable to the current world?

Prof. Huy: This question should be answered by experts about Vietnamese culture?. But I think that any rite should be appraised by the people who come from that community. Any judgment from outsiders is not appropriate.

If one doesn’t understand the native culture of Central Highlands people they will only see violence in the buffalo sacrifice rite. So they need to understand the rite as an insider so they can respect the culture of others.

I would like to suggest that the customs and traditions of each ethnic group should be performed inside the local communities. We should not call the buffalo sacrifice rite as a festival. We must  put an end to the intervention of any government cultural agency to this rite for any purpose. It is also necessary to improve the awareness of the media and tourism firms about the nature of this rite and raise the public awareness of the respect for the diversity and difference, starting from general education.

Khanh Linh