Khmer people in Dong Xoai city perform the ritual of offering silver cotton trees to celebrate the traditional Chol Chnam Thmay festival at Sreyvonsa pagoda, Tan Xuan ward.

Preserving unique cultural beauty

During holidays and festivals, especially the traditional Chol Chnam Thmay New Year, visiting any village or hamlet where the Khmer people live, it is easy to see the image of young men and women, old and young... absorbed in the Lam Thon dance. Especially, on the official day of the New Year, the Khmer people gather to dance Lam Thon in a circle, around the tray of gifts to welcome the New Year. When the music starts, everyone moves gracefully to the rhythm, moving in circles. They are absorbed in the dance from one song to another. Women raise their arms in front of their chest to show their shyness, men spread their arms out to their sides to show their strength, protecting their dancing partner. Such dances only create a unique beauty when a group sings and dances together.

Ms. Thi Be Sen in Cha Don hamlet, Loc Khanh commune, Loc Ninh district shared: I grew up with lullabies and traditional songs of my people. Since I was little, my grandmother, mother and sisters always took me to festivals, to practice and participate in the dances and songs of my people. Since then, I have loved and mastered the dances more and more. Nowadays, not only on holidays, New Year, and festivals, I dance and sing with my sisters in the village, but I also join the Lam Thon dance team to perform for visitors from far away. I am very happy that my people still preserve the traditional culture of my people.

Making silver flowers to offer to Buddha is a tradition of the Khmer people during the traditional Chol Chnam Thmay New Year.

During the Chol Chnam Thmay festival, a parade of silver flowers offered to Buddha is indispensable, praying for good fortune and for the recipient of the silver flowers to be fulfilled in their practice. Therefore, before the festival, each family with a good economy will make their own silver flower tree with different denominations of money. Households with more difficult circumstances will join hands with the village and the village to make a large tree at the cultural house to offer to Buddha. Ms. Thi Be (65 years old) in Loc Khanh commune shared: My family does not have the conditions to make their own silver flower tree. I went to the cultural house and, together with other households, contributed money to make a communal silver flower tree for the village to offer to Buddha. I put into it my prayers for luck, health and peace, and a new year of bountiful harvests. I am very happy that the traditional cultural beauty of my people is still preserved intact.

During the traditional Chol Chnam Thmay New Year, every Khmer family wraps Tet cakes to report their achievements and pray for a new year of favorable weather and wind.

Mr. Lam Day, Hamlet Chief, a prestigious person in Ba Ven Hamlet, Loc Khanh Commune, said: With a long-standing tradition, every time the traditional Chol Chnam Thmay New Year comes, the people in the hamlet happily wrap banh tet to celebrate the New Year, each family has about 15-20 banh tet to report a year of prosperity and harmony. In particular, the festival with many folk games is always enthusiastically responded to by the people in the hamlet day and night.

"Khmer lotus petals" are radiant and fragrant

The Party and State always affirm that the more than 1.3 million Khmer people are an inseparable part of the great national unity bloc, making an important contribution to the cause of building and defending the Fatherland led by the Communist Party of Vietnam. The culture of the Khmer people, including customs, practices, and traditional festivals with unique values ​​and rich identity, has enriched the colorful cultural picture of the Vietnamese people.

During Tet, Khmer people display trays of offerings including products representing the wet rice civilization of the Vietnamese people.

Recently, in his letter of greetings to the Khmer people on Chol Chnam Thmay, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh compared the Khmer ethnic community to one of the 54 lotus petals that make up the brilliant and fragrant Vietnamese lotus flower and that needs to be cared for and given full attention. Therefore, on the occasion of the Khmer people's traditional New Year, leaders of the Party, State, and Party committees and authorities at all levels set up delegations to visit, present gifts, and wish the Khmer people a happy new year. Binh Phuoc province has also set up many delegations to visit and present gifts to Khmer monks and Buddhists.

Loc Khanh has 45% of the population being Khmer ethnic people. Mr. Tran Van Luong, Chairman of the Commune People's Committee, said: In recent years, the Party Committee and the government of Loc Khanh Commune have always paid attention to taking care of the material and spiritual lives of ethnic minorities, including the Khmer people. On the occasion of the traditional Chol Chnam Thmay festival, we formed a delegation to visit and wish the monks and Buddhists at Soc Lon Pagoda and 3 hamlets with a large Khmer population.

To this day, the traditional Chol Chnam Thmay festival is still preserved intact by the Khmer people. The cultural identity of the Khmer people is being preserved, passed down, and restored for future generations to continue.