As a theme taking place throughout October at the Ethnic Culture and Tourism Village of Vietnam, the program introduces visitors to many cultural spaces, Western tourism along with cultural features, customs and traditions of the Khmer people in the Southwest region.
The October program “Impression of Western Vietnam” has many special activities such as: Reenactment of Ok – Om – Bok festival; Introducing the art of Cham rieng Cha pay; Organizing the Kathina robe offering ceremony; Introducing Khmer ethnic cuisine in the South, etc.
Kathina robe offering ceremony is an important ritual associated with Theravada Buddhist beliefs. Photo by: LVH
Ok – Om – Bok festival of the Khmer ethnic group in Tra Vinh province, also known as the Moon worshiping festival, is held on the 14th and 15th day of the Kadar month according to the Buddhist calendar, ie the fourteenth and fifteenth day of the tenth lunar month. According to the Khmer’s concept, the Moon is the god who has the power to govern crops in agricultural cultivation. After harvesting the first products of the crop, people conduct a ritual to give thanks to the Moon god for a bountiful harvest, helping to make the full life for the village. Ok – Om – Bok is a traditional folk festival held annually of the Khmer people in the South. This festival is a reflection, preservation and transmission of the positive values of the ancient polytheistic beliefs of an ethnic group that attaches the life of each person, each family and the whole village to the fields, crops and nature. The Ok – Om – Bok festival of the Khmer people in the South, including the Ok – Om – Bok festival in Tra Vinh, has been recognized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as a national intangible cultural heritage in 2015.
In the Khmer language, “Cham rieng” means “singing”, “Cha pai” is the name of a musical instrument, used to accompanies each part of a song. The whole phrase “Cham rieng Cha pay” means “singing and playing instruments” or “story-telling songs”. In addition, this instrument is also used in ceremonial music, wedding music and sacrifices to gods (called “Cha pay don venh”) or used to accompanies the singing and dancing “A day” duet (male and female duet). When playing the instrument, artists often rely on stories to improvise into poems, mainly in the form of 4-sentence poems, 7 words each to sing. Coming to the Ethnic Culture and Tourism Village of Vietnam in October, visitors will enjoy this unique art form of the Khmer ethnic group in Tra Vinh province.
A Traditional dance of Khmer people
At the “Common House”, Khmer ethnic people (Soc Trang) who are working every day in the Village will re-enact a number of activities such as introducing national costumes, ethnic musical instruments, and performing traditional arts theater genres of Khmer ethnic people at Khmer ethnic house space.
During October, there are also other activities such as: Displaying photos of festivals at Khmer pagodas; re-enacting the highlight space in the Khmer house to introduce traditional art forms, folk songs and dances, introducing Khmer Southern cuisine, etc. Besides, there is an activity to introduce the photo collection “Impression of Western Vietnam” and tourism publications in Tra Vinh province.
In addition, the weekend activities and activities at the Village will include: Reenactment of the house-sweeping ceremony of the Nung ethnic group; introducing the traditional art Ro bam, the progenitor worship ritual and the art performance of traditional Ro bam such as the play Se Da, P’re Rem and monkey Krongzep; introducing local specialties; folk games…
The program “Impression of the Western Vietnam” will take place from October 1 to October 31, 2022 at the Ethnic Culture and Tourism Village of Vietnam (Dong Mo, Son Tay, Hanoi).
V.H