In every Vietnam Motorbike Tour, riders always enjoy local custom and traditional foods along the trip but not many people know about them deeply. Today, we would like to introduce about White Thai traditional culture.
Every year, when the New Year comes, the White Thai people are very busy and so excited to welcome a new year. The custom of welcoming their New Year is very special and unique. In this occasion, White Thai families are eager to clean, re-decorate their houses to make them become more cozy and beautiful.
White Thai people have a custom of washing their hair on the last day of the year to disperse all misfortune of the old year and rinse their hair with soaked rice to welcome the good things in the New Year.
Liquor pots are distilled all day night of the last day of the old year. All of farming works and cultivation are promptly finished so local people will have time to look back all the achievements of productive labor they have got in the previous year.
Tet holiday of the White Thai always has traditional kinds of cakes such as cake which is made of sticky rice, pork meat, and green bean. Chung cake of the White Thai is not the same as cake of people in the South of Vietnam or square cake of people in the North.
Bong cake is made of soaked sticky rice, then dried and fried. And Khau Tat, a very unique and favourite cake that only the Thai people have.
Making cakes on Tet holiday is not only for preparing traditional dishes for Tet but also to show out the skillfulness, diligence and consideration of the White Thai women.
Mrs. Lo Thi Vien from Cham village, Muong Can commune, Than Uyen district, Lai Chau province said: If you want to have delicious cakes, you have to choose good soft sticky rice and soak the rice from the previous night and then in the next morning, it will be pounded, rolled, cut, dried, candied …
On December 30th, from early morning, every family slaughters a pig. The 4 legs, head and tail of the pig are used to worship the ancestors, lean meat is dried, lean and fat meat mixed is salted, the fat and lean is used to make sausage and Nem Thinh. All of traditional dishes are not only eaten during Tet but also hang on the kitchen to eat after Tet.
To the White Thai people, the tray of offering dishes to worship the ancestor is very important. Beside the head, 4 legs and tail of the pig; cakes, Thai people also have a small white flower which is never withered to put on the altar. The Thai also place 2 sugar cane trees on the both sides of the altar.
According to the concept of the Thai people, the 2 sugar cane trees are a symbol of a ladder so the ancestors can come back and welcome Tet with the family.
The custom of worshiping the ancestors on Tet holiday of the Thai people has both spiritual significance and prosperousness of the family. Moreover, it also demonstrates the sincerity of descendants to their ancestors. After burning the hell money and things for their ancestors, family members will invite their relatives to enjoy the meal in the early New Year.
When the New Year comes, the White Thai people in the same village will gather with each other to listen to gourd lute, a stringed musical instrument and sing traditional folk songs, enjoy delicious traditional dishes, invite each other a glass of wine, wish all the best and peaceful life.
We do not provide foods and experience culture of White Thai People in our tour and and it is not including in Vietnam motorbike tours prices as well. If you keen to the ride of discovering culture, feel free to contact ADV Vietnam Motorcycle Tours and Dirtbike Travel for more information.