The dancing ceremony on fire of Dao people

The 10th day of Tet (Feb.19), Dao people in Nam Det commune( Bac Ha, Lao Cai) celebrated a dancing ceremony on fire in order to wish good weather and warmth for villagers.


On the empty lot of the village, a big fire was lit. 30-40 minutes before opening the ceremony, the shaman would sit on the couch to perform ritual songs to open the way to heaven in order to find "ghost" which would go into participants in the dancing ceremony. When the shaman made the ceremony, each youngling sat opposite him.
When the shaman finished rituals, the participants started vibrating at the same time, this means they had strength and courage to jump into a pile of coal, which was infront of their face.

Pung… pung… pung, the sounds of drum in the shaman's hand was faster and faster. The acts of guys were stronger and stronger. They began to recoil, bent over, jump on one leg and come to the fire. There seemed to be some source of energy lifted up youngling, they recoiled and went into the fire.

Each pair danced on fire. They walked barefoot on a pile of coal and rolled around. About 20 minutes, a different turn. Every pair kept dancing until the pile of coal extinguished under the bare feet was black because of the coal.

The more close to the end of the ceremony, the more exciting. Gradually, not only the youth directly participated in the ceremony but also the audience even entered when the coal almost became ashes




This is a special tradition of ethnic minority in Vietnam