Visiting the villages of Muong people can see the traditional stilt houses with airy space and especially convenient for family activities. In the house, there are two fire stoves set in two different rooms suitable to the climatic conditions, customs and habits of the people.
Those fire stoves are a unique cultural space both physically and mentally transmitted for generations.
The same fire stove, completely the same in structure and layout but the use of each kitchen is different. An inner kitchen is called a women's kitchen, used to cook food, cook the main family. A kitchen is arranged in the outer space, near the stairs to go up to a smaller size, Muong people call it a man kitchen, leaving men in the house to sit there to receive guests whenever guests come to play.
The fire is sacred in the spiritual life of Muong people. When a house has been built, the Muong people will conduct a ceremony to build the kitchen. From the early morning, all the necessary work for this ritual was carefully prepared by the family, the bananas were brought back, peeled off in layers to prepare for the kitchen counter. Banana sheath is a poor conductor of heat, so it insulates between the kitchen surface and the floor, avoiding fires.
Meanwhile, at the ceremony, ceremony ceremonies were also displayed, including a ceremony to worship the ancestors of the masters and masters of the teacher. Another ritual is to worship the native land governing this land.
When the good time came, the male teacher asked on behalf of his family to make the brothel and the gods allow the family to make a kitchen to build a new home. Kitchen work will be conducted with the consent of the priest.
First, Muong people will build a large kitchen, also known as a woman's kitchen. Fresh banana sheets are put on the bottom of the kitchen to insulate. After the bottom of the kitchen was finished, people began to fill it with soil. The land here is not taken from the upper layer, but people have to take the soil from the lower layer through a shovel once, the land below has less roots and less organic matter, this layer of meat will have utility. Better avoid fire. In addition, the top soil layers are discharged by impurities, so the pure soil layer below must be taken.
The kitchen building is chaired by a reputable man in the community, who has a progeny and a desirable daughter and son so that the homeowner can benefit from that person. The host will stand by, count the number of buckets of soil pouring into the kitchen and mark the number of buckets of soil by breaking the bamboo sticks. When the mold of the kitchen is full of soil, the last bucket of dirt to be poured must be an odd number to meet the requirements.
In the kitchen of Muong people, even though there are iron frames, people still use three stones, or three continents to symbolize the three kitchen kings. The host just lit the fire in the kitchen and said congratulations on the new kitchen of the new home, always has delicious white rice, wine, on the floor of the chicken full of pigs, on the house of a healthy and prosperous person. When the fire has burned, Muong people will place fish to grill, fish is an animal representing the underwater world, also a symbol of luck. Therefore, Muong people choose grilled fish to send a wish for the peaceful and healthy coolness to their new home and family. After making up the stove, people have to start a fire right now and in principle, the stove on the floor after finishing the fire, for three days and three nights, do not turn off the fire, keep burning continuously, do not have to burn big but must incubate charcoal for the fire is not turned off for three days and three nights.
After the kitchen is finished, the Muong people will switch to covering the small kitchen. Every step is the same as when building a big kitchen. When the kitchen mold was full, the bucket eventually had to be an odd number and had to return about one third of the land inside the bucket called "return the land." Something should not be taken away.
According to the concept of Muong people, the stilt house made from wood and bamboo trunks taken from the forest can bring home bad signs and omens to humans. These evil things are symbolized by white threads spreading all over the new house.
And after the worshiping is done, the shaman will cut the string, symbolizing cutting the connection between the new house materials and the place where it was born to ward off the bad, the house becomes quiet. healed, peaceful with humans. This is one of the last procedures the mo master takes to end the kitchen-building ritual.
Since ancient times, Muong people's life has been associated with a fire stove, which not only helps cook dishes but also makes it important for lighting, heating and protecting people from wild animals. The appreciation of the fire has shown the solid, cozy and friendly cultural activities of Muong ethnic people that have been preserved for thousands of generations.
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