Traditional Culinary Culture Characteristics of Thai People in Mai Chau

The Thai people of Mai Chau live in the midst of majestic nature, diligently and creatively conquering nature, bravely and steadfastly fighting against two-legged and four-legged enemies. Every time an important task is completed, everyone holds hands around the fire to dance and celebrate. The xoè dances are formed, developed and perfected, imitating the steps of our ancestors in reclaiming land, clearing fields, planting rice, fetching water, tossing towels, offering wine... The reality of life and dreams and aspirations are expressed very vividly and subtly.

When the familiar folk song Inh la oi! Xao noong oi! was played, Thai girls in white and red shirts and Pieu scarves were seen.

First, the soft fabric umbrellas will step out one by one, starting to dance gracefully and softly.

When the sound of drums, trumpets, and instruments is sublimated, and footsteps become more bustling, the xoe dance has a strong attraction, regardless of age, gender, or gender. The xoe dance is like a silk thread that connects people's feelings together, expressing private feelings, love for compatriots and comrades.

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Xoe is a folk dance that reflects the working life and the struggle for survival between humans and nature. It symbolizes the strong vitality of the Thai people in the fight against foreign invaders, thereby expressing the dream of a peaceful, prosperous and happy life.

Through each step, people seem to be spiritually cleansed, closer, more in harmony with each other, love people, love life to enter working life with a bright, radiant faith.

The attraction of Xoe is the excitement, closeness and deep affection like the breath of life. Xoe vong always attracts everyone, regardless of old or young, stranger or familiar. Everyone holds hands affectionately and walks around the fire clockwise like the development of life. Therefore, Xoe vong always attracts both domestic and foreign tourists. Xoe vong can have a large number of participants.

During the colonial and feudal regimes, the xoe dances and the lives of xoe girls were just entertainment for the ruling mandarins. The fire of the xoe festival trembled many times and seemed to have been extinguished, but the fire in the hearts of the Thai people still burned brightly.

passionate, radiant. In the villages, artisans still silently teach the younger generations the cultural quintessence of their people.

If you have the opportunity to visit Mai Chau , who does not admire the vibrant and delicate xoè dances? The girls, mothers, and sisters who are diligent in farming, spinning and weaving... are now youthful and innocent in the folk dances. Then when the girls raise their cups of fragrant wine, sing with sincere and passionate voices, who can resist, and then their hearts are urged to step into the passionate xoè dance. The legendary Mai Chau shines with firelight and people's hearts are always cheerful, excited and passionate...

Nowadays, xoe dance has become a traditional cultural feature of the Thai people, contributing to the construction of an advanced culture imbued with national identity. The Thai people always believe that all Thai girls must know how to dance xoe, xoe dance becomes one of the criteria for young men to choose a wife, therefore, despite the changes of time, the xoe dances of the Thai people are still preserved and promoted.

When it comes to the music of Vietnamese ethnic groups, we cannot help but mention the custom of blowing the pi (also known as blowing the flute) of the Thai people. For the Thai people, blowing the pi has contributed to preserving the quintessence and identity of national music as well as enriching the cultural and spiritual life of the people.

Pi is a musical instrument made of bamboo, the head of the pi is attached to a small copper bar so that when blown, the sound is clearer. There are many types of pi. The single pi is often blown by men at night to call their lovers. The melody when blowing this type of pi is often very sad. It is a melody that expresses the longing of men who want to meet their lover but never see her open the door. This melody is called "Calling the lover" by Thai people.

Thai boys aged 16-20 all have a pipe in their body. Anyone who doesn’t know how to play the pipe will be laughed at by girls because Thai girls think that a boy who plays the pipe well is a romantic and optimistic guy.

Besides the single pi, there is also the double pi which is made by joining two single pi together. One is used to describe the melody, the other describes the melody.

The rhythm of a folk song when blown. The Pi Pap is often blown by Thai people in the early morning because its volume is relatively loud and the melody is cheerful.

In addition to the single pi and the pap pi, the tam lay pi is blown by Thai people during the day while working in the fields to cheer and encourage each other in their work and to be enthusiastic in production. The characteristic of this type of pi is that it is about 1 meter long with a melodious tone. Thai men also use the tam lay pi during the bright moonlight or to call their girlfriends while they are planting rice to attract their girlfriends' attention.

The pi is blown by Thai boys to hope to meet their girlfriends, the person they love, but sometimes for Thai people, blowing the pi is also to express regret for someone. Many Thai couples in love, when they think about marriage, are prevented by the girl's family. After persuading her parents for a long time without success, the girl goes to the forest to hang herself. The boy was so sad that he cried until he had no more tears, but his regret for the person he loved still did not subside. The boy had to use the pi tree to send his sincere feelings and thoughts to the girl he loved, hoping to comfort the girl who died because of their love. That is the origin of the pi thiu (also known as the pi crying for a lover). This type of pi is often blown by the White Thai people when expressing regret for the beautiful love of two people who loved each other passionately but did not succeed. The length of the pi thiu is about 1m, including 6 segments. The melody of the song often carries a deep sadness that touches people's hearts...

Besides the xoè dances, people also know the Thai people's art with the lyrics, the Thoi people call it "khập", the Thoi people have many different types of "khập" such as: "khập bao xao" (the love song of young men and women); "khập xu" (poetry alley); "khập xông khuôi" (the song to see off the groom); "khập xo po xo nong (the song to ask for help); "khập ton khoi ton po" (the song to ask for help from the groom, the girl to ask for help); "khập au phua, au moi" (the song to get married - the song in the wedding ceremony) etc. It would be a mistake to talk about the Thai people's songs without mentioning the love song.

On days when the village holds a cultural festival, Thai boys and girls invite each other to the village yard to sing all night long. The girl sings a duet.

In part 1, the boy also plays the flute and sings the lyrics for the girl. These very romantic love songs all express love between couples. The boy plays the flute and sings: "I have passed many streams, hills, many days of travel to meet you/If you love me, I will bring my parents to ask for your hand in marriage!". The girl responds: "My parents are very difficult, demanding many gifts from you. Will you be able to do it?". Just like that, the boy has to think of a way to respond to the girl's request until she gives up.

Many couples fall in love during the nights of collective cultural exchange, with the sound of the flute, the flute and the love songs. After the festival, the boy goes to the house of the girl he likes to express his feelings through the flute. The boy takes out the flute and blows it, the flute's sound is melodious and touching. The boy blows until no one is awake in the girl's house, then uses a stick to poke the girl's sleeping place, waking her up to confide. If the girl likes the boy, she immediately opens the back door for the boy to enter. The following nights, the boy only uses the flute to blow, calling his lover. The flute's melody repeats over and over, replacing the confession, making the girl sob and tremble. The flute's sound hums like a request, the melody blends the boy's soul and feelings into the flute, touching the girl's heart. In the middle of a cold winter night, with mosquitoes and leeches biting, even though the girl was sleeping in a warm blanket and soft mattress, she still had to get up and open the door to let her lover in. After hearing the whistle many times, she became familiar with it and could distinguish her lover's voice. If someone else came to blow, the girl would know right away that it was not her lover's voice and would not open the door.

In addition to love songs, Thai people also sing "Xap Sen" . Singing "Xap Sen" is also accompanied by blowing the pipe and is used by Thai people to chase away evil spirits when someone in the family is sick. Thai people often sing "Xap Sen" for 1 day and 1 night, hoping that the sick person will recover soon so that they can continue working. In addition, singing "Xap Sen" also implies praying for the elderly in the family to live long, for the young to be healthy and happy, and for young men and women to get married soon.

full house of children...

It can be said that for Thai people, especially boys and girls, the pi has become an indispensable musical instrument in their spiritual life. The pi has replaced the confidences, the feelings that people want to express to each other. Blowing the pi combined with love songs has been and is a beautiful traditional culture of the Thai people.

Temporarily putting aside the humming of the lyrics, the dreaminess and melodiousness of the pi sound, we come to the excitement and joy of the Thai people's Xap dance . Xap dance is a collective dance that requires many players and can be played with many people. Usually, Xap dance has 5 pairs of boys and girls to beat the Xap and 5 pairs of boys and girls to dance the Xap. Xap dance shows a spirit of solidarity and community. Next to the campfire, all the locals as well as tourists join in the Xap dance. Thereby creating a closeness between people. Professional Xap dancers not only have simple Xap dance movements but also combine Xap dance with dance movements flexibly. Along with the collision that creates a pleasant sound between the bamboo sticks are the

The song is cheerful, so the Xap dance often brings excitement and fun, very suitable for cultural exchanges between local people and domestic and foreign tourists.

1.2.3.6. Food

Besides the unique cultural identities mentioned above, the Thai people in Mai Chau, Hoa Binh also have a very rich and unique culinary art. And that is also one of the important premises to contribute to the development of tourism in Mai Chau.

1.3. Summary of Chapter 1

Above are the most basic issues of culinary culture in tourism development and the most general features of the Thai ethnic group in Mai Chau district, Hoa Binh province.

Through a general study of the natural conditions as well as the social and residential conditions of the Thai people in Mai Chau Hoa Binh, it can be seen that this place has quite favorable conditions in terms of nature, society and culture for tourism development.

In addition to preserving their own cultural identity, the Thai people also absorb many cultural quintessence of other ethnic groups to enrich their own cultural capital, in accordance with the spirit of the Party and the State, creating an advanced culture imbued with national identity, integrating but not dissolving. Through a long historical process, the Thai people in Mai Chau have created unique and distinctive cultural features. The above cultural features combined with traditional culinary culture are great potential for the development of cultural tourism in Mai Chau. If natural tourism resources attract tourists by their wildness, grandeur, uniqueness and rarity, human tourism resources attract tourists by their tradition, diversity and richness.

Therefore, the introduction of culinary culture into tourism exploitation must be based on preserving, protecting and promoting values so that it becomes one of the strong and profound driving forces for the development of local tourism.

In summary , with its rich and diverse cultural identity, Mai Chau district, Hoa Binh province has great potential for tourism development. Mai Chau district has outlined

oriented to choose tourism as the key industry and the main development goal of the district. With its great potential, Mai Chau district has been exploiting it very well to develop tourism and make Mai Chau a famous and well-known place. The problem for Mai Chau district is how to develop tourism to improve the lives of local people while preserving and promoting cultural identity to pass on to future generations and avoid commercialization.

CHAPTER 2: UNDERSTANDING CULINARY CULTURE

TRADITIONS OF THAI PEOPLE IN MAI CHAU - HOA BINH

2.1. Characteristics of traditional culinary culture of Thai people in Mai Chau

2.1.1. Source of raw materials for processing

2.1.1.1. Food sources from cultivation and livestock

The Thai people, like other ethnic groups in Vietnam, follow ancient farming practices and still only grow a few basic grains such as rice, corn, potatoes, and cassava.

Among food crops, rice is the main food crop, rice is closely associated with

Thai ethnic people from the beginning. Thai people like to eat sticky rice, so in the past they mainly grew sticky rice, but nowadays due to the development of livestock farming, high-yield non-glutinous rice is preferred. Thai people grow a lot of sticky rice such as sticky rice, sticky rice. Regarding non-glutinous rice, the most delicious is the fragrant northern rice and fragrant eight rice. These types of rice have long, small grains, and when cooked, they produce very fragrant and sticky rice. In Mai Chau, rice is grown twice a year, the winter-spring crop and the winter-spring crop.

Corn is the second most important food crop after rice.

For the Thai people's life, it is a supplement to their daily food source. In the past, when productivity was not high, corn was used to replace rice. Thai people eat corn for meals or mix corn with rice for cooking. Corn is often grown on fields, in mountainous areas, and sometimes in gardens. Corn is usually planted around the second lunar month. There are two types of corn: sticky corn and non-sticky corn. The white sticky corn is called "khau lo dỳak" and the yellow sticky corn is called "khau lo luong" . Non-sticky corn has a high yield, while sticky corn has a low yield but is more fragrant and sticky. Due to these characteristics, non-sticky corn is used to raise livestock, poultry or make wine, while sticky corn is used as food for people such as cooking porridge, mixing rice, mixing sticky rice, cooking corn sweet soup, making corn cakes, popping corn...

Cassava: is a food crop that is quite commonly grown because of its characteristics of being readily available, highly drought-resistant, and can be grown in poor soil, rocky soil, and gravel. Cassava tubers are widely used for raising livestock and poultry, and cassava is also

a very good ingredient for making wine. Cassava is usually planted in the fields around March and harvested in February of the following year.

Taro: planted in December and harvested before Qingming festival

to avoid rotting due to waterlogging. There are many types of taro, each with different characteristics, but in general, taro has a high starch content used to make food, taro is processed by cooking with bones to create dishes.

very delicious and nutritious

Sweet potatoes: are only a secondary food of the Thai people, grown in sandy soil. Sweet potatoes are planted on vines in December and the tubers are harvested in April. Sweet potatoes can be preserved for a long time, this is also a dish that the people use instead of rice when the rice harvest is not yet.

Regarding food plants, Mai Chau is a small valley with relatively fertile land and suitable climate, so food plants are quite diverse. With the purpose of self-sufficiency, each Thai family grows food plants in their home garden, with some main types of plants as follows:

Water spinach: is the most popular vegetable in Mai Chau, water spinach can be

Water spinach can be grown anywhere, on land or underwater. There are two types of water spinach: white water spinach and red water spinach. White water spinach is often grown in gardens, while red water spinach is grown near water sources.

Mustard greens: are also a popular vegetable often found on Thai people's meals. Mustard greens include many varieties such as mustard greens, bitter greens, mustard greens, cabbage, and watercress. Gourd: a fruit tree, in addition to being used as food, the ripe gourd

gourd shell is used to hold seeds, especially gourd shell is used to

Wine holder looks very aesthetic.

Squash: there are two types: pumpkin and green squash. Pumpkin uses its fruit and shoots as food, green squash is a vine with sweet fruit.

Gourd: there are many types such as bitter gourd, aromatic gourd, hybrid gourd and regular gourd. Bitter gourd has a mild bitter taste, aromatic gourd when cooked has a very fragrant smell.

Characteristics. Luffa is often eaten very cool, luffa is often used to stir-fry or cook soup. Old luffa seeds are used as seeds, and luffa fibers are used to make very good cleaning utensils.

Melons: grown mainly in gardens with varieties such as watermelon,

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