Little Snowflake - A lullaby for baby - Mot bai hat ru danh cho cac be

 Little Snowflake - A lullaby for baby

Dictionary :

Snowflake : bông tuyết
Fall : rơi xuống, té ngã
Head : Đầu
Nose : Mũi

Good night : Chúc ngủ ngon

Vu Lan, a parent's day

Going around the world, no one good as Mom
All of my life, no one 

"Vu Lan" is a Buddhist holiday for people express filial piety to thier parents. "Vu Lan" is closely connected to the Asian tradition of ancestor worship and filial piety.

Muc Kieu Lien, one of the Buddha's ten principle disciples, had many spiritual powers after he attained arhatship. He missed his mother whom passed away long time ago. But he didn't know where hell his mother was in. 
There are many kind of hells. Belonging what you do when you alive, you will be in the suitable hell and be punished for your crimes. 

So that Muc Kieu Lien used his spiritual powers to look for his mother. Then, he saw his mother was in "Ngạ Quỷ", a hell for greed people, in this hell the ghosts always feel hungry, very hungry but nothing for them no fire.

His mother took on the form of  a hungry ghost. He was very sad when saw his mother so he used his power to go down to "Ngạ Quỷ" to meet his mother. When he saw his mother, he gave her a rice of bowl. But Mục Kiều Liên 's Mother was greed. When she had this bowl, she used a hand to hide this bowl because she worried others ghosts would see her rice of bowl. Immediatly, the rice of boil was burnt then nothing for her. Didn't have any way to help his mother. Mục Kiều Liên came back to surface. After that, he asked for a help from Buddha. Buddha advised him gathering of monks and got them pray for his mother on the fifteenth day of the seventh month ( lunar calendar ).

On the fifteenth day of the seventh month,Mục Kiều Liên and monks prayed for his mother. The prayer's power was too strong. This power was not only release his mother, but also release others ghost in hell, Ngạ Quỷ.

" Vu Lan " is also believe to be the spirit month. Spirit month is " tháng Cô hồn"  in Vietnamese. In this month, gate of hell opens and ghost can come to surface. Vietnamese family is often burn hell's money, paper house, paper goldent, etc and honor food and drink for thier dead ancestors. In this month Vietnamese families also honor food ,hell'money for unknow wandering ghosts.

Dan Da, a special lithophone of Vietnam's ethnic minority

A lithophone have exist 3000 years which was discovery in Đăck Lăck

Đàn đá is a lithophone played by Vietnam’s ethnic minority. The word “Đàn” mean musical intrument and “đá” is stone. It is made by stone, stone ,… nothing but stone.

Several stone of different sizes are placed in a row. The player uses a stick to knock these stones , each of which produces a different tone. Stone music sound like rhyth of the streams and bird songs.

Many groups of diferently pitched stones have been found in Vietnam, indicating that they were being used musically thousands of years ago. The first of these were famously uncovered by a Franch archealogist , Georges Codominas, in 1949.

Tây Nguyên (Central Highlands)

It results from the researches that Lithophone existed between 4,000 and 10,000 years ago.

In 1949, road workers discoveried 11 stones of diferrent sizes which were shaped fabricated throught an elementary technique at Đăk Lăk province.This is the first Đàn đá was found in Vietnam.
  

June 1950, Georger Condonias  , a French archealogist, brought these stones to Paris which is now kept in French museum.

July 1951, Georger Condonias published about lithophone which was discovered in Vietnam.

In 1956 the second Đàn Đá was discovered then a captain American brough this lithophone to America.

In 1979, many Vietnamese archaeologists started research Đàn Đá. Until 1990, they found more than 200 kinds of Đàn Đá in Đắck Lắck, Lâm Đồng, Khánh Hòa, etc.

Đàn đá have continued to be used by Vietnam’s ethnic minority , most of whom live in Tây Nguyên ( Central Highlands of Vietnam).