The Ma’s ritual to pay gratitude to the Forest Genie
When the rainy season comes and water fills the streams and the trees bud, the Ma hold a ceremony to thank the Forest Genie. Nguyen Huy Cao of the Center for Culture, Communications, and Sports of Cat Tien district says the Thanksgiving ritual has been performed since the ancestors of the Ma settled here. The offering of a sacrificial animal and the playing of gongs continue today. The Thanksgiving ritual can be performed by a family or by the community. A community Thanksgiving is held when the village has suffered a severe flood or drought or when someone has died while working in the forest. “The scale of the ceremony depends on the financial situation. For a community ceremony, people may prepare a buffalo. A rich family may also prepare a buffalo, while a family of 2 or 3 generations may prepare a pig or a goat. The sacrificial animal can be any four-legged animal or even a chicken,” explains Cao. Meanwhile, according to Dieu Cac Khu of Ngo hamlet, Cat Tien township, the