The Philosophy on the Relationship Between Humans and the Universe in Worship Rituals of the Ede People in Buon Ma Thuot – Central Highland, Vietnam

Abstract

The Ede people’s philosophy on the relationship between Humans and the Universe is highly idealistic. They believe that the entire universe consists of 3 layers: The first is the Heaven – the sky in the shape of a great dome covering over the Earth, and at sunset, it is the Sun going back down into a deep earth cave where he lives, while at sunrise, it is the Sun leaving his cave. The same is true for the Moon. The middle layer is the Earth, with a shape of a square, and the last layer is the Underworld. Each of the 3 great layers are inhabited by deities. For the Ede people, the Heaven is ruled by the Ae Die – their supreme deity. Also living there is the god Ae Du, the second supreme deity, who is responsible to teach humans all the rites required in any worship rituals of the Ede people. In addition to the supreme gods, the Ede people also worship numerous other deities such as Yang Hrue (the God of the Sun), Yang Mlau (the God of the Moon), Yang Cu (the God of Mountains), Yang Ee (the God of water), Yang Argin (the God of Wind), Yang Tlua (the God of Rain), Yang Kbua (the God of Life and Fertility), H’Bia Klu (the God of fairies), Yang gram (the God of Thunder), Yang Hma (the God of Swiddens),etc. and many, many other deities that are meant to rule over almost all activities in the daily life of the Ede People. The worship rituals are the culmination of process of accumulating experience and knowledge from the reality of labor and creating of the Ede people since ancient times, with philosophies reflecting the much objective laws on the life of Human in the relationship with the Universe. Keywords: Universe; Universe view; Ede people; rituals; worship. DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/10-10-02 Publication date: May 31 st 2020