(VOVworld) – This year’s Kate festival of Chăm ethnic people fell on the first day of the 7th month of the Chăm calendar which is October 11th of the solar calendar. Thousands of Chăm people and domestic and foreign visitors gathered at Po Ro Me towers in Phước Hữu in Ninh Phước district to attend a procession of the costumes of the gods to Po Klong Girai Tower in Phan Rang City and join other rituals of the Kate Festival.
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| Kate festival officially takes place on October 12 (Photo:Internet) |
The 2015 Kate Festival, began on the 30th day of the sixth month of the Chăm calendar with a procession of the costumes of the goddess Poh Nu Canh from the mountain hamlet of Phước Hà to Chăm Hữu Đức village.
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| The procession of the costumes of Goddess Poh Nu Canh. (Photo: vietnamtourism.com) |
The procession involved Raglai and Chăm people who together carried the goddess’ costumes to the Po Klong Garai Tower in Đô Vinh ward for a ritual to express their gratitude to the heaven, earth, and ancestors and pray for a year of favorable weather and bumper crops.
The festive atmosphere spread across the Chăm villages where all family members gathered and prepared traditional food offerings to worship the ancestors and the mother goddess Poh Nu Canh.
On the first festival day, the first day of the seventh month, the official ceremony of the Kate festival in Ninh Thuan took place simultaneously at three temple towers: Poh Nu Canh, Poh Romeo, and Po Klong Girai.
Chief Monk Bá Văn Đứng in charge of the ceremony of Chăm Hữu Đứng village said that “the festival is held once a year, offering an opportunity for us, the descendants, to express gratitude to ancestors who created canals, rice fields, and gardens.”
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| At the ritual (Photo: VNA) |
The temple towers are a venue where local villagers honor the gods and King Po Klong Girai who is credited with teaching Chăm people how to irrigate their rice fields, the start of the construction of the Nha Trinh – Lâm Cấm irrigation system.
Mai Thị Mỹ Nhung of Phước Hậu village said “at every Kate festival I go to Po Klong Girai Tower to worship and pray for good luck, good health, and prosperity for all my family members. I want to join participate in th efestival activities.”
The Kate Festival always attracts lots of tourists who are curious about the local culture. Russian sightseer Iana Lukashevskaia said “this is the third time I’ve attended this festival. I’m very impressed by their music, dances, traditional costumes, and the time-honored culture of Cham ethnic people.”
When the Kate festival ends at the towers, the festive atmosphere can still be felt in the Chăm villages, where people of Chăm, Kinh, and other ethnic groups in the region spend time visiting each other to show villager solidarity.
While a Kate festival is full of ritual, in the village it’s simpler, but plays a more important role. Here folk games, folk arts, and sporting events are gleefully enjoyed.
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| Charming young Chăm girls with the traditional costumes. (Photo: vietnam-online.org) |
Charming Chăm girls balance water jars on their heads and race to the finish line, while Chăm men compete in ball games. This is very typical of the Chăm Kate festival. The most interesting event is a show in which Chăm girls and boys vie with each other in folk songs.
Hán Thị Lễ, a Phước Hữu villager, said “Kate is our biggest festival. All female villagers buy new clothes to go out and participating in dancing performances at the festival. The Kate festival is a very cheerful event.”
For traditional craft villages in Ninh Thuận, Kate is an opportunity to sell their handicraft products and improve their lives.
Thuận Thị Trào, a brocade weaver who lives in Mỹ Nghiệp village in Ninh Phước district, said that “the products we launched during this year’s festival are newly-patterned items. We’ve carefully prepared for the 2015 event because a growing number of visitors are interested in Mỹ Nghiệp village.”
In the past a Kate festival lasted a month. Today it’s usually about a week. On this occasion, family members get together to make offerings to the ancestors and pray for prosperity and good luck. This is a chance for elders to teach the younger generation to show gratitude and respect to the ancestors.