Chroi Rum Chek Festival recognized as National Intangible Cultural Heritage

The Chroi Rum Chek Festival (Phuoc Bien) was born in the late 17th century, based on the legend of Mr. Ta Hu, which is still preserved at Serây Cro Sang Pagoda (Vinh Chau town, Soc Trang province).

At first, the festival only took place spontaneously on a small scale, and the first people who contributed to shaping the festival were a Khmer monk named Ta Hu and an old man named Luot Pol. At that time, the monk dreamed that the souls of people who went out to sea to fish and were overturned by big waves and strong winds came back to tell him in his dream.

Buddha procession ceremony in Chroi Rum Chek Festival.

From then on, the monk built a tower on the coastal sandbar, where whale carcasses often drifted, so that Buddhists could come to burn incense and pay their respects. People came to pray for calm weather, calm seas, and fishermen returning from the sea with boats full of fish. He chose the full moon day of the second lunar month (the full moon day of the first lunar month for the Khmer) to set up the altar to do good deeds, because that was the time when the weather was calm, the sea was calm, and fishermen returning from the sea had boats full of shrimp and fish.

After that, this charity event received much attention and enthusiastic response from many people. Since then, the sea worship ceremony was formed and became a traditional festival with noble humanistic meaning not only for the Khmer people but also for the Kinh and Chinese people living together in the area.

Khmer dance performance in Chroi Rum Chek Festival.

Chroi Rum Chek Festival is a treasure trove of intangible cultural heritage reflecting the customs, practices and beliefs of the local community, becoming a cultural and tourism product with typical characteristics of Soc Trang province.

Preserving and maintaining festival activities is a message to all future generations to always reflect, practice and strive to learn, increase awareness and take action to protect, build and promote the cultural values ​​of the nation.

“Phuoc Bien Festival in Vinh Chau town plays a very important role in economic, cultural, social, educational life... encouraging people to live a good and beautiful life to improve themselves, exchange cultures of ethnic groups, promote local tourism and preserve national cultural identity”, Comrade Son Po affirmed.

Source: https://nhandan.vn/le-hoi-chroi-rum-chek-duoc-cong-nhan-la-di-san-van-hoa-phi-vat-the-quoc-gia-post864880.html