In the afternoon of March 12, along with a wide range of activities of “Buon Don Ethnic Traditional Cultural Festival”, a ceremony on praying for elephants’ health was held at Bay Rong water wharf (Krong Na Commune, Buon Don District). This traditional ritual is one of the oldest traditions of ethnic minority people in the Central Highlands and has an important position in their spiritual lives.

For centuries, elephants have been considered a symbol of the Central Highlands. Elephants hunted and tamed by Gru (valiant men hunting elephants) have become family members of Ede, M’nong, Jarai ethnic minorities. Elephants share daily work with their owners or replace them to do the heavy work. During the festival, the elephant is not only family’s honor but also the pride of the whole community; the strength of the elephant represents the power of community solidarity. Hence, the rites to pray for elephants’ good health are respected by local ethnic people and held every two years in beautiful days of the year, or in March to show people’s love and respect for animals, therefore regarding people to care and protect the elephants.

For elephant healthy praying ceremony, invited shamans must be the good and reputable ones who well know the local people’s traditional customs. The offerings included tube wine, pork, pig’s head and blood must be well prepared for the shaman to invite the Yang, god of mountain, water god to witness the ceremony. The shaman gives elephants pig’s head, and then applies pig’s blood and tube wine on elephants’ head, reads vows to pray for Yang and gods to bless elephants healthy. In this ceremony, the mahouts are also given pork, tube wine and promise to consider elephants as good friends, care for elephants, and prevent them from destroying crops. At the final part of the ceremony, the elephants will be given the offerings offered to the gods by the shaman.

The ceremony on praying for elephants’ health is a special cultural activity along with a series of activities of “Buon Don Ethnic Traditional Cultural Festival” which is held every two years (in Mid-March of Solar calendar) to preserve and promote the traditional cultural values of ethnic minorities in Buon Don District in particular and in Dak Lak in general. The festival was taken place from March 12^th to 14^th, 2016 and the opening ceremony was officially held in Krong Na Commune, Buon Don District in the evening of March 12.

Elephants are gathered before holding the traditional ritual

Preparation of offerings

Village patriarch carries a tray of offerings to the ceremony area.

The shaman gives wine, pork to mahouts

The shaman applies pig’s blood and wine on elephants’ head