Dak Lak digitises Ba Na harvest ritual to safeguard living heritage

The annual harvest blessing ceremony was recently reenacted in full at Xi Thoai Village in central Dak Lak province, where local authorities documented and digitised the entire ritual to create a permanent cultural archive for research, education and public outreach.

The initiative is regarded as a new approach to preserving living heritage at a time when many indigenous traditions face the risk of disappearing as elderly cultural practitioners become fewer.

A ritual rooted in community memory

Held at the village's communal house, the ceremony featured a traditional bamboo pole, jars of rice wine, betel leaves, pork, chicken, rice and other ritual offerings.

As the sounds of bronze gongs and traditional drums echoed across the village, ritual leaders began prayers asking Giàng, the supreme deity in Ba Na spiritual belief, for favourable weather, abundant harvests, good health and peace for the community.

For the Ba Na people, humans, forests, rivers, rice fields and spiritual beings are closely interconnected. The ceremony is therefore performed after each harvest season and before a new planting cycle to express gratitude and seek blessings for the coming year.

"This tradition has been passed down through generations," ritual master Xau Dun Linh said.

"We continue to perform it every year because it is an important part of who we are. These cultural values should never be lost."

The ceremony includes prayers honouring ancestral spirits, mountain and water deities, while expressing hopes for prosperous harvests, healthy families and a united village.

Heritage survives only when communities continue to practice it

Cultural researchers say the harvest ritual represents far more than a religious ceremony. It embodies indigenous ecological knowledge, spiritual beliefs and the Ba Na people's harmonious relationship with nature.

What distinguishes Xi Thoai Village is that the ritual remains part of everyday community life rather than being performed solely for festivals or tourism.

Village elder Nguyen Ngoc Truong explained residents voluntarily contribute offerings and actively participate in the ceremony every year.

"Everyone hopes for good harvests, successful livestock breeding and a better life, so the whole community looks forward to this occasion," he said.

In addition to the harvest ritual, the village continues to practice several other traditional ceremonies, including new rice celebrations, grave abandonment rituals and health blessing ceremonies, while preserving distinctive gong performances unique to the Ba Na community.

Digital preservation for future generations

A major feature of this year's programme was the complete digital documentation of the ceremony.

According to Nguyen Thuy Phuong Hieu, deputy director of Dak Lak's Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, digitisation has become a key component of Vietnam's strategy for safeguarding cultural heritage.

The province is also working with local communities to identify representative villages where comprehensive heritage preservation can be combined with community-based tourism development.

"We aim to preserve each ethnic community's distinctive cultural identity while enabling those cultural values to contribute to local socio-economic development," she said.

Officials believe that digitally documenting traditional ceremonies will not only preserve indigenous knowledge for future generations but also make the rich cultural heritage of Vietnam's Central Highlands more accessible to both domestic and international audiences.

Home to nearly 50 ethnic groups, Dak Lak possesses one of Vietnam's richest collections of intangible cultural heritage, including traditions of the Ede, M'nong, Ba Na and Ja Rai peoples. In recent years, the province has increasingly integrated digital preservation with cultural tourism as part of its broader strategy to protect heritage and create new opportunities for sustainable development.

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