Khmer people in the Mekong Delta have many year-round festivals, most of them featuring ethnic religion and culture, namely Chol Chnam Thmay, Dolta and Ok Om Bok. In Soc Trang Province’s Vinh Chau Dist, Chrorumchec, the festival to worship the sea, is held on the 14th and 15th days of the second lunar month and is aggressively promoted to attract millions of visitors.
The festival worshipping Vinh Chau Sea has existed for hundreds of years and the meaning of the festival is to pray for peace for the country, safety for the people, good weather and a great harvest. Moreover, the festival commemorates forefathers who were devoted to the country, the god who blessed them with a good life and the sea that provided them a bounty of food.
For these reasons, the festival has become a tradition not for only Khmer people but also for Chinese and Vietnamese in Soc Trang.
The festival opens with a requiem at an ancient tower built by a local man, Ta Hu. The requiem aims at honoring the contributions of forefathers and praying for good luck for villagers. After that, people make a procession from Cang Sa Pagoda to a Buddhist pavilion to celebrate a solemn religious ceremony to pray for peace for the country.
After the ceremony it is time for recreation activities and animated programs which feature traditional cultures and reflect the daily life of the Khmer people. At the festival, visitors will have a chance to see hundreds of country girls with barrels on their shoulders while they still talk and smile together. The activity illustrates the hard life of the locals but proves they still try to reduce worries and overcome fatigue in their hopes for a better life.
The most animated activity may be the wagon race which features dozens of wagons full of shrieking, laughing participants. The race is to commemorate the past, when Vinh Chau had no machines or tractors and used oxen to plow the fields.
The most exciting part of the festival is a boat race not on water but on dry land. The race represents the hope for rain in times of drought. Racers make boats from banana trees.
The festival also features parallel sentences and traditional songs whose lyrics are prayers for rain and a good harvest.
Visitors to the festival will have a chance to enjoy the sweet voices of Khmer girls singing traditional songs and talented dancers moving with the rhythms of Khmer drums. The two-day event also features traditional folk games that represent the hopes and beliefs of the Khmer people.