Happy Chol Chnam Thmay festival

BPO - Binh Phuoc province is home to 41 ethnic groups living and developing together, with nearly 10% being Khmer people. Every year, in mid-April, the Khmer people joyfully celebrate their traditional New Year, Chol Chnam Thmay - the most important festival of the year for the Khmer people. This beautiful traditional culture of the Khmer people is maintained, preserved, and continues to spread and interact with the cultures of other ethnic groups in Binh Phuoc in modern life.

Báo Bình Phước•13/04/2025

Khmer people in Dong Xoai city perform the ritual of offering silver flower trees to celebrate the traditional Chol Chnam Thmay New Year at Sreyvonsa Pagoda, Tan Xuan ward.

Preserving unique cultural beauty

During festivals and celebrations, especially the traditional Chôl Chnăm Thmây New Year, visiting any Khmer village or hamlet reveals a scene of young men and women, young and old, enthusiastically participating in the traditional Khmer dance. Particularly on the official day of the New Year, the Khmer people gather in a circle around a tray of offerings to celebrate the festival. As the music begins, everyone moves gracefully to the rhythm, circling around. They are engrossed in the dance, moving from one song to another. Women raise their arms to their chests, expressing shyness, while men spread their arms to their sides, signifying strength and protection for their dance partners. Such dances, performed collectively, truly showcase their unique beauty.

Ms. Thi Be Sen from Cha Don hamlet, Loc Khanh commune, Loc Ninh district shared: "I grew up surrounded by lullabies and traditional songs of my ethnic group. From a young age, my grandmother, mother, and sisters always took me to festivals, where we practiced and participated in the dances and songs of our people. From then on, I grew to love and master the dances. Nowadays, not only do I dance and sing with the women in my village during holidays and festivals, but I also participate in the village dance troupe to perform for visitors from afar. I am very happy that my people still preserve the traditional culture of our ethnic group."

Offering silver flowers to Buddha is a tradition of the Khmer people during the traditional Chôl Chnăm Thmây New Year.

During the Chôl Chnăm Thmây New Year festival, a procession offering silver flowers to Buddha is indispensable, praying for blessings and for the recipients to achieve fulfillment in their spiritual practice. Therefore, before the festival, each family with sufficient financial resources will create their own silver flower tree with different denominations of money. Families in more difficult circumstances will join forces with their villages to create a large tree at the community center to offer to Buddha. Ms. Thi Be (65 years old) from Loc Khanh commune shared: "My family doesn't have the means to make our own silver flower tree. I went to the community center, and together with other households, we contributed money to create a communal silver flower tree for the village to offer to Buddha. I entrust it with my prayers for good fortune, health, peace, and a bountiful harvest in the new year. I am very happy that this beautiful traditional culture of our people is still preserved intact."

During the traditional Chôl Chnăm Thmây New Year, every Khmer family makes bánh Tét (traditional rice cakes) to celebrate their achievements and pray for a year of favorable weather.

Mr. Lam Day, the village head and a respected figure in Ba Ven hamlet, Loc Khanh commune, said: "With a tradition passed down through generations, every year on the traditional Chol Chnam Thmay New Year, the people in the hamlet joyfully wrap banh tet (traditional Vietnamese rice cakes) to celebrate the New Year. Each household prepares about 15-20 banh tet to commemorate a year of prosperity and harmony. In particular, the festival with its many folk games is always enthusiastically enjoyed by the people in the hamlet day and night."

"Khmer lotus petals" are radiant and fragrant.

The Party and State have always affirmed that the more than 1.3 million Khmer people are an inseparable part of the great national unity, making important contributions to the cause of building and defending the Fatherland under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam . The culture of the Khmer people, including their unique and rich traditional customs and festivals, has enriched the colorful cultural landscape of the Vietnamese nation.

During the Lunar New Year celebrations, the Khmer people display a feast featuring products that reflect the rice-farming civilization of the Vietnamese people.

Recently, in his New Year's greetings letter for the Khmer people on Chol Chnam Thmay, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh likened the Khmer ethnic community to one of the 54 lotus petals that make up the vibrant and fragrant Vietnamese lotus flower, emphasizing the need for full care and attention. Therefore, during each traditional Khmer New Year, Party and State leaders and local authorities at all levels form delegations to visit, give gifts, and offer New Year's greetings to the people. Binh Phuoc province has also formed many delegations to visit, give gifts, and offer New Year's greetings to Khmer monks and Buddhist followers.

Loc Khanh commune has 45% of its population belonging to the Khmer ethnic group. Mr. Tran Van Luong, Chairman of the People's Committee of the commune, said: "In recent years, the Party Committee and the government of Loc Khanh commune have always paid attention to caring for the material and spiritual lives of ethnic minorities, including the Khmer people. During the traditional Chol Chnam Thmay festival, we formed a delegation to visit and extend New Year greetings to the monks and Buddhists at Soc Lon Pagoda and the three hamlets with a large Khmer ethnic population."

To this day, the traditional Chôl Chnăm Thmây New Year festival is still preserved intact by the Khmer people. The cultural identity of the Khmer ethnic group is being preserved, passed down, and restored for future generations to continue.

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