>>Non-contractual compensation under Ede and M’nong customary laws
>>Customary practices and conventions of the "Ede" people
Ta Thi Tam
Ethnology Institute
Before moving to a new home, the E De, an ethnic group living in the Central Highlands, must celebrate it to beg for gods’ support for a safe and sound life in that home.
New home ceremony (di dok sang mrau) is an important rite of the E De dedicated to yangs (E De gods) who are believed to protect the family from misfortune and illness.
An E De home is a stilt house at least 15 meters long and around 1 meter above the ground. The traditional long house of a multi-generation family can be extended up to 100 meters, a typical characteristic of the E De’s matriarchy. Every time a woman gets married, the house is extended to accommodate the new sub-family.
An E De house has durable wood pillars and a thatched roof. Its beams are manually shaved logs which can be as long as 10 meters. Walls and the floor are made of bamboo and the roof of thatch over 20 centimeters thick. In the past, cattle and poultry were kept under the stilt house.
An E De house has two parts. The part with the main entrance door called gah is the living part for receiving guests and common activities of the entire family. The other part called ôk includes two sections: one for cooking and the other further partitioned into smaller rooms for married couples.
To celebrate a new home, a family must prepare many offerings the most important of which is a sacrifice pig. The sacrifice must be a purely black boar raised and slaughtered according to strict formalities. The E De has a taboo against sacrificing a cow which is believed to bring in misfortune or fire because the cow’s brown hair symbolizes fire.
Other offerings include rice, vegetables and seasoning. A well-off family can kill a cow to treat villagers. Relatives of the family also contribute food for the family to make a party meal.
On a chosen day, villagers gather at the clan head’s home early in the morning, busy preparing the ceremony. Young men slaughter a cow while young girls make a fire for cooking. Some others fetch water from a stream for mixing ruou can (rice wine drunk from a jar through stalks). Old villagers and the family host receive guests. Other family members conduct two important formalities of the rite: beating the sacrifice pig and tying wine for offering to yang.
The formality of beating the sacrifice pig is conducted carefully in the house front. After being cleaned, the black boar, weighing over 10 kg, has it legs tightly held by two men for another strong man to beat its head with a beetle. Blood of the pig is kept in a brass bowl for offering to gods. The pig is then slaughtered for making dishes to offer to the kitchen god.
The formality of tying jars of wine for offering to yang is carried out in the middle part of the new home by a relative of the host. This person tightly ties three jars of ruou can to three bamboo poles around 2-3 meters high in a line near the entrance door. The jars, each stuck with a bamboo stalk around 1.2-1.5 meters long, are tied in this way to enable gods to drink wine, showing the family’s sincerity to gods. The first jar from the entrance door on which is hung a brass ring is left open. Cotton leaves are inserted in these jars to keep wine dregs from floating and create a space to be filled with water. Every time a volume of ruou can within this space is drunk out, water is poured in to make the jar full for further drinking.
The offerings are placed facing the east, which is believed the direction of the origin and growth of life, in the following order: three jars of ruou can, a raw pig head, a raw pig leg including also the ribs and a raw pig shoulder blade put on a big banana leaf, a basket of cooked heart, liver and meat of the pig, a plate of rice, a bottle of wine and another basket of the meat, intestine and lung of the pig.
Musical instruments used in the ceremony include hgor (leather drum), and gong which are also placed facing the east. The new home ceremony comprises several rites as follows:
Offering to the kitchen god: Following a drum roll, the clan head sucks ruou can from the first jar to a brass pot, then mixes the wine with the pig blood contained in the brass bowl and gives it to the sorcerer who ties this bowl to the first pillar at the corner facing the east. In the middle of the kitchen are a big basket of rice covered with banana leaves and a fire-burning stove with a big pot on it. The sorcerer dips a cotton branch into the bowl of blood wine, then sprinkles the wine onto the kitchen pillar while praying for the kitchen god to protect the family and bestow on it fortune, prosperity and peace.
Worshiping the main pillar of the living part: The main pillar is the second from the entrance door of the house’s living part to the east. After making offering to the kitchen god, the sorcerer sprinkles blood wine onto pillars of the house and stops in the living part, daubing the wine on the main pillar and reciting prays to win gods’ protection of the family.
Worshiping the foot of the living part’s main pillar: The sorcerer goes out of the house and comes to the foot of the main pillar under the floor of the stilt house. Again, he sprays blood wine and asks for the gods’ support for the house’s solidity. After praying, he pours the remaining wine at the foot of the main pillar to close this rite.
New home celebration: The sorcerer squats facing the east in front of the first jar of ruou can, holding the neck of the jar in his hands and muttering prays for happiness and fortune for the family. He then comes and sits in front of the offerings facing the east, inviting the host’s wife to drink the first bowl of ruou can followed by her mother, father and grandparents and finally relatives of the family who each drink a bowl of wine to celebrate the new home.
Foot washing: The clan head squats facing the west with his back leaned against the living part’s window facing the east and his right foot placed on the blade of an iron axe and a brass ring. The sorcerer applies wine to the toes of the clan head’s right foot with a cotton bud while constantly reciting prays to win gods’ protection. The sorcerer closes this rite by pouring the remaining wine onto the foot of the clan head.
Worshiping the floor: The sorcerer and the clan head sit opposite next to a big jar of ruou can. The clan head sucks the wine into a bowl, then pours this bowl of wine through chinks of the floor while praying for the house to stay firm and suffer no misfortune.
Nail hammering: The clan head hammers an iron nail into the main pillar of the living part. For every knock on the nail, the clan head shouts loudly to get rid of evil spirits as the house now has an owner.