Legend has it that a yellow wicked monkey came to the Ma Coong people's land and destroyed villagers’ fields every night, leaving them in a state of perpetual hunger. Therefore, the village elders came up with the idea of hitting the drums and gongs to chase the monkey away. One day, when the wicked monkey approached the village, local people beat the gongs and drums to make a deafening sound that scared the evil monkey and made it disappear for good.

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Ma Coong ethnic people celebrate the drum beating festival.

Annually, local people offered deities the most delectable harvested products to commemorate the enormous devotion of the village patriarch and prayed for prosperity. This activity later on became the drum beating festival of the Ma Coong people.

For generations, the Ma Coong people hold a drum beating festival to celebrate the new moon season and pray for favourable weather conditions and abundant crops in lunar January. The locals believe that the farther the festival drum sounds go, the more bumper the crops will be, along with a new year full of blessings.

According to village patriarch Dinh Xon in Thuong Trach commune, people spend months preparing for the celebration. They build a dam across the Aky stream to catch big fish for the opening ceremony. Meanwhile, some young men are assigned to finish the box drum with many rigorous techniques.

The ceremony is performed on January 16 (lunar calendar) when it is the full-moon. The village patriarch prays for peace, prosperity, and a bountiful harvest. After he has imposed an order with a drum-call, people hit the drum using wooden pieces to make loud sounds. They beat the drums while singing, drinking and dancing to the drum beats until the drum surface is broken.

Translated by Tra My - Kim Ngan - Thu Trang - Thuy Trang