Human Life Philosophy in Worship Rituals of the Ede People in Buon Ma Thuot - Highlands, Vietnam

Mai Trọng An Vinh

doi:10.7176/rhss/10-4-11

Abstract

The cultural and spiritual life of the Ede people is very rich and unique. Therefore, the implementation of the Ede people’s worship rituals is quite common. These rituals embody the Ede people's profound human life philosophies about human and human life. But now the Ede people’s worship rituals have been transformed through the process of cultural exchange and contact with other ethnic groups. The regular practice of worship rituals on the one hand contributes to preserving and promoting the values in the Ede people’s traditional culture, on the other hand, it is also one of the factors leading to superstitious actions, which negatively affects the healthy development of spiritual and cultural elements, hinders the construction of an advanced Vietnamese culture imbued with national identity in a more or less manner. Therefore, the research for objective view in a scientific perspective on human life philosophy in the Ede people’s worship rituals is necessary to contribute to the explanation of the formation of the worship rituals and human life meaning of ritual practice steps. It is one of the important bases for cultural management agencies to devise appropriate guidelines and policies to preserve and promote human life values in the Ede people’s worship rituals in Buon Ma Thuot in the current period. Keywords: philosophy; human life; the Ede people; ritual; worship. DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/10-4-11 Publication date: February 29 th 2020

Highlights

The Ede people are the second most populous ethnic group in the Central Highlands, reside mainly in Dak Lak province, especially in Buon Ma Thuot
Concept of death The Ede people believe that death is a departure from the life to return to the ancestral world ruled by two Gods named Bang Bdung and Bang Bdai, the rituals for the dead on this occasion are one of the most important and largest-scale rituals in the worship rituals of the Ede people because those are the affection of the survivors for the dead
It can be said that the human life philosophy of death in the worship rituals of the Ede people is very special, the rituals related to death are the convergence point of folklore elements imbued with national identity of this ethic group

Summary

Introduction

The Ede people are the second most populous ethnic group in the Central Highlands, reside mainly in Dak Lak province, especially in Buon Ma Thuot. The naming ritual is usually held by the Ede people at the same time with the ritual of blowing air on baby's ears, they believe that when a person dies, after the soul is circulated after many times and in the last reborn in human life and becomes a descendant in the family, the sign of that rebirth is in the form of a dewdrop, so during the naming ritual for the child, the Ede people often take a leaf with a dew drop, place on the child's face and recall names of grandparents and ancestors[1] until the child does behaviors such as smiling, swinging legs, swinging arms, etc., meaning that the child accepts and choose that name, or in other words the child chooses the soul of an ancestor with suc a name.

Results

Conclusion