Cultural heritage of Huu Duc Cham village

Huu Duc Village, Phuoc Huu Commune, Ninh Phuoc District, Ninh Thuan Province, lies amidst a picturesque rice field – a place where the Katê Festival, a national intangible cultural heritage, is still preserved and practiced. It is also one of the highlights in the implementation of Project 6 on preserving and promoting the valuable traditional culture of ethnic minorities in conjunction with tourism development, under the National Target Program 1719 for the period 2021–2030. Each time visitors set foot in this culturally rich Cham village, they can experience spiritual tourism, participate in rituals at the Po Ina Nagar temple, learn about the Po Klong Halau stone wall relics, and hear stories about the Cham people's custom of worshipping Kut stones.

The dignitaries are sorting the bones contained in Klong boxes during the Kut initiation ceremony.

Po Ina Nagar Temple - a temple dedicated to the worship of the Mother Goddess.

The worship of Po Ina Nagar is a form of mother goddess worship among the Cham people. The goddess taught the Cham people rice cultivation, weaving, pottery making, seafaring, and trade. Previously, the Cham worshipped Po Ina Nagar at the Thap Ba Tower in Nha Trang City, Khanh Hoa Province. Due to historical events, the Cham moved her shrine to the Hamu Ram plain in Mong Nhuan village, Phuoc Huu commune. In 1954, the Cham further relocated the temple to the Hamu Tanran field in Huu Duc village, Phuoc Huu commune, Ninh Phuoc district, Ninh Thuan province, where it remains to this day.

The architecture of the Po Ina Nagar temple resembles that of communal houses in Vietnamese villages. The roof is decorated with two dragons vying for a pearl, and the temple is surrounded by a protective wall. The main gate opens to the east. Overall, the Po Ina Nagar temple consists of three main worship spaces: the eastern section houses a statue of Po Bia Apakal, the central section serves as a preparation area for offerings and a resting place for the officials, and the western section contains statues of Po Bia Dara and Po Bia Tâh.

The goddesses are worshipped at the Po Ina Nagar temple.

Additionally, there is a small building in the south used for worshipping the fire god during the Yuer Yang Festival. It can be said that the architecture of the Po Ina Nagar temple reflects the architectural thinking of Vietnamese communal houses, demonstrating cultural exchange between the two communities while still preserving traditional Cham construction techniques regarding the arrangement of worship sites and the truss system.

Although it is only a small temple managed by the village community, every year at Po Ina Nagar temple, the Cham people organize the Yuer Yang, Katê, and Cambur festivals and open the tower like other temples in Ninh Thuan . In particular, at Po Ina Nagar temple, there is a ritual offering to sea turtles (green turtles) organized periodically by the clans. The rituals at Po Ina Nagar temple are performed by the religious leaders Po Adhia, Pajau, Kadhar, and Camanei, who carry out the ceremonies of opening the temple doors, bathing the statues, dressing them in ceremonial robes, offering gifts, and singing hymns.

Po Klong Halau stone wall ruins

During the Katê Festival, the Raglay community from the mountainous village of Njak (Giá), Phước Hà commune, Thuận Nam district, carries the ceremonial attire of the goddess Po Ina Nagar to the Cham people for the ritual. The Raglay community participates in the ceremony, playing gongs and horns, creating a unique musical performance. The Cham have a saying, " Cham sa-ai Raglai adei ," meaning the Cham are the elder sisters, while the Raglay are the younger sisters, following a matriarchal system and therefore have the right to inherit and preserve the ceremonial attire of the goddess Po Ina Nagar. The Katê Festival further strengthens the close bond between the Cham and Raglay communities.

Po Klong Halau stone wall ruins

Po Klong Halau (1579-1603) ascended the throne in the Year of the Rabbit and abdicated in the Year of the Rabbit, reigning for 24 years. His capital was Bal Pangdurang near Chung My village, Phan Rang. In the early 18th century, Bal Pangdurang was moved to Phan Ri, specifically to Bal Canar, Tinh My hamlet, Phan Thanh commune, Bac Binh district, Binh Thuan province. The Po Klong Halau site is built with a system of stone walls surrounding it. The wall system consists of three layers from the entrance: the first layer is the largest, the second is smaller, and the third contains Kut stones for worship.

Offering gifts at the Po Ina Nagar shrine.

At the Po Klong Halau site, there are three Kut stones carved with four-petaled flower patterns and stylized crown patterns, and three cylindrical stones without carvings. During the restoration process, the Kut stones were rearranged into a horizontal row. Currently, no family living in Huu Duc village claims to be descendants of the Po Klong Halau lineage. However, every year during the Katê Festival, after offering prayers at the temple tower, the Cham community comes to offer prayers at the Po Klong Halau temple.

Unlike clan-owned Kuts, which are directly managed and practiced by the clan, the Kut Po Klong Halau historical site is managed by the Huu Duc village community. Therefore, families and clans are allowed to come and pray for blessings and protection when they wish to practice their faith. According to folklore, the Kut is very sacred, and visitors must be mindful of their words and actions, refrain from littering, and avoid taking stones from the surrounding walls home to use as offerings to the kitchen god.

Kut stone carvings at the Po Klong Halau site

From the carvings and size of the Kut stone, it can be inferred that Po Klong Halau belonged to a noble family with high social standing. Local people have not been able to determine when the Kut was built or where the descendants of the Po Klong Halau family migrated to. For a long time, Kut Po Klong Halau was overgrown with cacti and wild plants, making it unsuitable for anyone to enter. Through several restoration efforts, including the construction of a protective wall, the laying of a concrete foundation, and the erection of a canopy to shield the Kut stone from sun and rain, the site has become clean and green like a park with trees and lighting.

The Kut Po Klong Halau stone temple is the center of religious and spiritual life for the Cham community. It is regularly open to the public for worship and guidance in performing rituals by the religious leader, Mr. Kadhar. Offerings include fruits, cakes, betel nuts, egg wine, a pair of chickens or a goat, depending on the family. It can be said that Po Klong Halau is like the guardian deity of the village, a place where people come to fulfill their spiritual and cultural needs.

The Klong boxes are being sorted and prepared for import into Kut.

The Cham people's custom of worshipping Kut stone.

The Cham people follow a matriarchal system, where daughters have the right to marry and bring their husbands home. After the cremation ceremony, the Cham keep nine pieces of bone from the forehead, shaped like coins, in a metal box called Klong. On the day of the Kut (ancestral burial), the wife's family is obligated to bring the Klong box back to the husband's family to perform the Kut ceremony according to the matriarchal lineage. The Cham have a proverb: "Daok hadiep ngap mbeng ka urang tel matai ba talang ka amaik" (meaning: While alive, one creates wealth for strangers; upon death, one brings the bones back to the mother). This proverb accurately reflects the nature of the Cham matriarchal system; children belong to the mother's lineage. While alive, they are free to live anywhere, but upon death, they must return to the cemetery of their mother's lineage.

On the way to Kut family cemetery

A common characteristic of Cham Kuts is that they are all built to the east of the village, near a water source. The names of the Kuts are often derived from place names, the names of trees, the names of the oldest women in the clan, or the names of the person who organized and established the Kut. For example: Kut gep Hamu Makia (The Persimmon Tree Clan), Kut Amil Apuei (The Fiery Tamarind Tree)... Clans of warrior, noble, or official lineage have Kuts with carved four-petal flower patterns or crown motifs. Clans of commoners, however, have plain stones without decorative carvings.

The Cham people's Kut stones typically come in odd numbers: 3, 5, 7, 9, or 11. The number of Kut stones varies depending on the clan that established them. However, the stones are arranged in a specific order. The row of stones on the east is for men, and the row on the west is for women. The central stone, however, does not contain any remains. Depending on the circumstances of death—whether it was a good or bad death, social status, rank, official, commoner, or someone with a disability—these are chosen for burial together in the Kut. The Cham are very cautious in the process of placing the Kut; failure to adhere to these rules will result in punishment from their ancestors. The officials who carry out the Kut placement are also very meticulous in classifying and grouping the standard Klong boxes according to regulations.

Experiencing community tourism in Huu Duc Cham village, visitors are free to walk through the fields and admire the river. They can discover interesting things about the cuisine, music, customs, and learn about the historical and cultural heritage of the Cham village.

Kut Stone is carved with patterns of the Hamu Makia clan.

Reciting prayers at the Kut initiation ceremony.

Source: https://baodantoc.vn/di-san-van-hoa-lang-cham-huu-duc-1748261134595.htm