Top 10 Traditional Cultural Festivals in the Mekong Delta

The On Ceremony is a longstanding tradition in the Southern region of Vietnam. While it's not as widespread as before, it's still celebrated in various localities such as Can Tho, Vinh Long, Long An, and An Giang. Although the dates may vary, these ceremonies are typically held at religious sites like temples and shrines. This ritual originated during the land reclamation period when diseases posed significant threats to human life. Consequently, people believed that these illnesses were caused by malevolent spirits or unseen forces. Thus, they performed the On Ceremony to bid farewell to these negative influences and safeguard their communities. Preparation involves offering ritual items to deities and releasing a boat with offerings into the river while lighting incense. The purpose is to dispel misfortune, illness, and usher in a peaceful and prosperous life.

This custom dates back to the early days of land reclamation when villages were just beginning to form. At that time, the environment was harsh, with stagnant water and rampant diseases like malaria posing lethal threats. Faced with such challenges, people attributed these illnesses to malevolent spirits or 'invisible forces,' prompting them to perform ceremonies to appease these entities and protect their families and communities. Thus, the On Ceremony - a ritual to ward off illness - came into being. In this context, 'On' signifies bidding farewell or dispelling, while 'Ceremony' refers to disease. Here, 'wind' represents the harmful winds that spread disease among people (Southern folklore often uses the phrase 'caught the wind'). People in the Mekong Delta believe that all diseases are caused by harmful winds carrying contagious diseases through the air, and anyone unfortunate enough to 'catch the wind' will fall ill. They believe that these illnesses are caused by malevolent spirits or unseen forces, hence the need for ceremonies to ward off these influences and bid farewell to illness.

Seven Mountains Bull Racing Festival is a festival of the Khmer ethnic people, imbued with the rich cultural characteristics of folk tradition and a unique sport in the Seven Mountains region. It is held during the Dolta festival of the Khmer people, on the 30th of August lunar calendar every year in Tri Ton district, An Giang province. People select the most agile and robust pair of bulls. They are taken care of, trained, and fed according to a strict regimen. After two months, the pair of bulls are ready for the race, with handlers guiding them. The pair of bulls that wins the top prize in the year is considered a precious asset of the family and the entire village. They are believed to bring luck in farming, resulting in a bountiful harvest and prosperity for every household. Every year during the bull racing festival, the atmosphere is vibrant and captivating, attracting thousands of visitors from nearby provinces. The cheering and applause make the race lively and enjoyable.

Organizing the traditional bull racing festival. To prepare for the bull race, they select a flat rice field, about 200m long and 100m wide, with well-irrigated soil, plowed multiple times to ensure the mud is smooth. The perimeter is fenced, and there is a clear stretch at the finish line for the bulls to stop safely. The main racing track is only 120m long, along the edge of the rice field. Two flagpoles, 5m apart, are planted at the starting point and at the finish line. The color of the flag where the bulls stand determines the finish line. Before the race begins, pairs of bulls are matched or drawn by lots, and necessary agreements are made, such as who will go first or second... But usually, the pair behind has the advantage. If during the race, a pair of bulls veers off the track, they are disqualified, and the pair behind wins. The handlers must stand firmly; if they fall off, they lose. When the referee gives the start command, the handlers sharply prod the bulls' buttocks with a bamboo stick, causing them to run forward in pain. It's essential to prod both bulls evenly for them to reach a fierce and thrilling speed.

Dolta Festival, also known as the 'Pardon the Deceased' festival, is a Khmer people's celebration. It is the largest traditional festival of the Khmer people, also known as the Ancestor Worship Festival (Pith-sen Dolta). The festival bears similarities to the Vietnamese Vu Lan festival, hence also called the 'Pardon the Deceased' festival. It is held to honor the contributions of ancestors, parents, and relatives, to thank the deceased, and to seek blessings for the living, fostering bonds among friends, relatives, and the community. Held over three days annually, from the 29th of August to the 1st of September in the lunar calendar. During the three days of Dolta, various religious and cultural activities, customs, and traditions intertwine.

While the Kinh people have the Vu Lan festival, the Khmer people also have the Dolta Festival, a tribute to ancestors held over 3 days from the 29th of August to the 1st of September annually. According to Khmer ethnic customs, they do not hold annual death anniversaries, so they organize this festival to remember their deceased ancestors and pray for blessings for the living. During these days, Khmer people in the villages worship their deceased ancestors and then offer gifts to their living grandparents, followed by a family reunion meal. They also visit pagodas, lighting incense to invite their deceased ancestors to join the ceremonies. Throughout the Dolta Festival, there are various cultural performances, traditional music, folk games, Lam - Thol dance... contributing to making the festival lively and joyful. Particularly in An Giang, the Seven Mountains region, there is also the traditional bull racing festival that attracts many visitors.

Ky Yen Festival meaning 'Peace Prayer Festival,' is the largest worshiping festival dedicated to the Thanh Hoang deity in a temple in Southern Vietnam. Each year, villages in Southern Vietnam hold two worshiping ceremonies: Thượng Điền (after the harvest) and Hạ Điền (before starting the farming season). Ky Yen may be combined with Thượng Điền or Hạ Điền, or it can be a separate festival depending on the locality. Nowadays, the Ky Yen festival lasts for three days and includes various worshipping rituals. After the ceremonial worship, some villages organize a parade, bringing offerings to temples and inviting the deities to return to the temple to attend the festival. In Đình Châu Phú, after worshiping the Thanh Hoang deity Nguyen Huu Canh, there is a parade to worship the Thoai Ngoc Hau deity at the ancestral altar of Nguyen Khac Mi (a descendant of Thoai Ngoc Hau), along with the deities Chanh Ve Thuy Do Dang Tau and Pho Ve Thuy Le Van Sanh. This is a practice of Buddhist integration into temple rituals to pray for the well-being of the villagers. The ceremony starts with setting up an altar for Quan Am Buddha, followed by incense offerings, Buddhist chants, and burning incense to pray for blessings from the Buddha and the deities.

Chanh Te Ceremony, also known as the Great Assembly, takes place on the second or third morning of the Ky Yen festival, depending on the locality. According to historical records, the Chanh Te ceremony is held on the second morning of Ky Yen, at the hour of Tý, based on the belief that this is the 'yin and yang' hour, symbolizing the beginning of all good things. The ceremony is similar to the Tuc yet ritual but with a different recitation, known as the Ta Thanh Cung recitation. In Đình Châu Phú, the ceremony takes place at 3 a.m. on the 12th day of the lunar month, which is the early morning of the third day of the festival. Đình Bình Thủy (Châu Phú, An Giang) organizes the Chanh Te ceremony on the 11th day of the 5th lunar month, which is the third day of the Ky Yen festival. According to Sơn Nam, the Chanh Te ceremony is the most important. It is said: '... before that, there was the Tuc yet ceremony, which gathered together the ritual offerings, which can be compared to the ancestral worship ceremony, a precursor to the main day of worship. Humble temples may skip the Tuc yet ceremony to save expenses... There is still uncertainty about the name: Chanh or Te. On the invitation cards at the temple near Bien Hoa market, it is written as Dai Dan. Dan is where rituals are conducted (establishing dan, dan Nam Giao), which is probably more accurate. Fundamentally, across the country, the rituals are similar but with 'major, medium, and minor differences.'

Chol Chnam Thmay New Year Festival, also known as the age-taking festival, is the biggest traditional festival of the Khmer people, taking place over three consecutive days according to the traditional calendar of the Khmer people, which is at the beginning of the Khmer month of Chet. Chol Chnam Thmay is also celebrated as New Year's Day in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka. When travelers visit areas with a large Khmer population such as Soc Trang, An Giang, and Tra Vinh, they will experience the lively atmosphere as the locals prepare for their traditional New Year. Similar to the customs of the Lunar New Year of the Kinh people in the Mekong Delta region, people clean their houses, buy new clothes, prepare traditional cakes (banh tet), and arrange flowers, fruits, and incense for the Buddhist rituals. Traditionally, the Khmer New Year is celebrated at Khmer temples, but nowadays, due to living in mixed communities with the Vietnamese, they also celebrate the countdown and worship their ancestors at home during the Chol Chnam Thmay festival. During this festival, the Khmer people also organize various joyful activities such as flying lanterns and spinning fire wheels, making it one of the distinctive cultural festivals of the Mekong Delta, attracting visitors from various places.

In the thirteen provinces and cities in the Mekong Delta region, there are nearly one million Khmer people (also known as Khmer Krom) living, with the largest population in the provinces of Tra Vinh, Soc Trang, An Giang, and Kien Giang. Chol Chnam Thmay New Year Festival is held at the beginning of the Khmer month of Posak, also known as the month of Chet in the Theravada Buddhist calendar. Regardless of the Khmer month, this festival falls on the 14th, 15th, and 16th days of April in the Gregorian calendar (or starting from the 13th day if it's a leap year). This is a dry season when the crops have been harvested, and people have leisure time, so they can enjoy the New Year festivities to the fullest. After celebrating the New Year, they prepare for the rainy season and rice planting. Similar to the traditional New Year of other ethnic groups, Chol Chnam Thmay of the Khmer people in the Southern region is celebrated with some distinctive customs reflecting their cultural identity. As a community following Theravada Buddhism, all Chol Chnam Thmay activities of the Khmer people in the Southern region take place at the temple.

Kathina Festival, also known as robe offering festival, is celebrated by the Khmer people in Soc Trang province after three months of Buddhist Lent. According to the Khmer Theravada Buddhist tradition, each pagoda selects a specific day and notifies the villagers to prepare for the Kathina ceremony. Therefore, the dates may vary among villages but traditionally span two days. During these days, the villagers enthusiastically organize the festival with hopes for peace, happiness, and bountiful harvests in their village. In this festival, the villagers invite monks to chant sutras and offer blessings for household prosperity. The second day is the most festive as the entire community parades the Kathina robes. They present various offerings including robes, bowls, and essential items for the monks' livelihood. Accompanied by the Sa-dam drum team, the Ro-bam band, and a group of young women, they procession to the pagoda to offer these items to the monks.

This festival not only involves robe offerings but also contributes to preserving the noble values of Buddhism and fosters a sense of closeness and friendliness within the Buddhist community in Vietnam. The word 'Kathina' in Pali does not simply mean robes or robe offering but signifies firmness and stability. In Pali, Kathina (written as Kathinaya) refers to a weaving frame or loom. Kathina is a ceremony for praying for favorable weather and peaceful households. Besides seeking blessings for the present life, those attending the ceremony also pray for good health, beauty, wealth, and filial piety in their future lives. The Kathina robe offering day is when the Triple Gem (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha) is offered four requisites, especially essential items used in the pagoda and in the monks' daily lives; among these requisites, the robe is an indispensable item. In addition to offering essential requisites to the Triple Gem, Buddhist followers and laypeople also contribute financial donations (known as silver robe offering) for pagoda renovations, repairs, and to provide food and necessities to the venerable monks for their peace of mind in practicing and serving the Dharma.

The Ok Om Bok Moon Worship Festival, also known as the Moon Worship or Rice Offering Ceremony, takes place on the 14th and 15th of the 10th lunar month annually among the Khmer people of the Mekong Delta. For the Khmer, the Moon is revered as a deity who regulates the weather, protects the rice fields, and ensures a bountiful harvest, bringing warmth, and prosperity to the inhabitants. Therefore, after a successful harvest, the Khmer conduct the Moon Worship ceremony to express their profound gratitude to the Moon deity for its benevolence and to pray for favorable weather in the upcoming farming season. Thus, the Ok Om Bok festival was born, with nearly every household participating in this event. This festival usually takes place in provinces like Soc Trang, Tra Vinh, where the Khmer community predominantly resides.

Through this festival, the Khmer people express their gratitude to the Moon deity as the guardian of agriculture, bringing forth a prosperous farming season. While the festival is celebrated across the Western provinces, its grandest scale is in Tra Vinh and Soc Trang. It is organized either at homes or in pagodas, with the main event in Tra Vinh city occurring on the 14th of the 10th lunar month along both banks of the Long Binh River, featuring traditional boat racing. At the Ao Ba Om relic site, visitors engage in folk games such as tug-of-war, pot smashing, sack racing, or visit the Khmer Cultural Museum. In the evening, people enjoy Khmer cultural performances or watch water lanterns floating on the shimmering moonlit surface of the pond. The Ok Om Bok festival is recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage.

The Coconut Worship Festival, also known as the Thac Con Festival, is a festival of the Khmer people in An Trach, Chau Thanh town, Soc Trang province, held annually according to the Khmer lunar calendar, corresponding to the 3rd lunar month of the Kinh people. This Thac Con festival has existed for nearly a hundred years. Anyone attending this ceremony must buy a pair of coconuts to offer to the Thac Con deity, with the tradition of offering coconut shell bowls symbolizing purity and luck, representing the auspiciousness of a clear heart like the pure coconut water. This festival not only attracts many locals but also visitors from neighboring provinces such as Kien Giang, Can Tho, An Giang, and even Cambodia. Visitors coming here during the coconut worship festival season in Soc Trang will understand the cultural beliefs of the people of Soc Trang in particular and the Mekong Delta region in general, as it is a distinctive cultural festival of the Southwest region.

Until now, no one has confirmed the Coconut Worship Festival appeared at any specific time because when they were born, this festival was already being held annually, and people followed the traditions of the ancestors. However, according to the elders' accounts, this festival has a history of over 100 years because in the past, this area was easily accessible by boats and vessels. According to tradition, a group of children herding buffalo discovered a mound of soil emerging, they tried stepping on that mound, suddenly there was an echoing sound from the ground, 'keng, keng, keng' like the sound of beating a gong. Seeing this phenomenon, everyone came to try stepping on it, and they all heard the echoing sound. Later, a pregnant woman wanted to try stepping on it to see if she could hear the gong sound like everyone said. When she stepped on the mound, she heard nothing anymore. Because of this phenomenon, the Khmer people named this place 'Thac Con,' which in Vietnamese means 'beating the gong.'