During annual festivals in M’lieng, the gong culture, the matrilineal culture, the culture of epic poetry and a diverse culinary can be seen the most clearly. Many families in M’lieng still have the Kpan chair – a seat that is exclusive for gong artists when they perform during M’nong festivals, as well as many ancient gongs and drums made from elephant skin.
The family of 86-year-old Y Dlum Teh is an example. His family still has an ancient gong set that he brings out to perform whenever there are village festivals or family events. For him, the gong set bears the memories of many generations, therefore it needs to be taken care of and absolutely cannot be sold, something he reminds his children and grandchildren of every day.
The peaceful scene at M’Lieng village in the early morning. |
M’lieng village is also the home of 8 other sets of ancient gongs ranging from 100-200 years old. In 2011, M’lieng was one of the 6 villages in the Lak district gifted with a set of gongs by the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism and was selected as a place to preserve the cultural space of gongs.
These spring days, the M’nong in M’Lieng as well as many other villages in the Central Highlands have begun their festive season with many exotic activities, such as the celebration of new rice (celebrating successful harvests), or the elephant race festival. Villagers like Y Dlum now have another thing to be proud of, that M’Lieng has now become a popular destination for tourists, both domestic and foreign. For the future, after finishing doing their traditional occupations, M’Lieng villagers will have more sources to improve their income as well as their living standard while continuing the invaluable preservation of their ancestors’ culture.