Watching Cham dance of Thanh Y villagers celebrating Kate festival

(Dan Tri) - Celebrating Kate festival, Cham people in Thanh Y village (Thanh Hai commune, Phan Rang - Thap Cham city, Ninh Thuan) organized a dance and singing festival imbued with Cham culture at the village stadium.

After the morning ceremony at the Cham towers of Po Klong Garai, Po Inư Nưgar, and Po Rome, on the afternoon of October 14, nearly 2,000 Cham villagers of Thanh Y hamlet held a singing and dancing festival at the stadium.

This is a traditional and unique cultural feature of the Cham people every time they celebrate Kate. After making offerings to the kings, ancestors, and gods, people happily play, dance, and celebrate for three days during the Kate festival. Like many other Cham villages in Ninh Thuan, the people of Thanh Y village are excited and radiant during the traditional festival . To prepare for the "dancing on the field" program, many people have prepared and practiced traditional Cham dances for the past month.

Vong My (Thanh Y village, Hai Thanh commune, Phan Rang - Thap Cham city) said that the Kate festival is a big festival for the villagers. From young to old, even the elderly are very excited, taking advantage of their free time to practice the traditional dances of Cham culture. For the past month, every night the villagers are bustling with voices, laughter, and dancing and singing.

Not only the elderly, many young Cham people are also taught to practice the Cham fan dance. The peacock dance with fans is a cultural beauty, a traditional dance of the Cham people in Ninh Thuan for generations. In the traditional long dress, they dance rhythmically and gracefully at the Thanh Y village stadium.

According to the Cham people, the peacock is a symbol of joy and luck. Therefore, the peacock dance is always present in festivals and happy days of the Cham community. This is a unique and typical folk dance of Cham dance art. The props for the peacock dance are fans, so the Cham people love fans very much.

Cham women with skillful hands hold two fans, sometimes like wings, sometimes like two birds. The fan is the voice of the heart, when happy, the fan is raised, when sad, the fan is turned down, when in love, the fan is graceful, when affectionate, the pair flies together. Regardless of age, Cham women can skillfully dance the peacock dance with fans in hand.

The Cham people call the "water carrying" dance Tamia dwa buk. The girls carry on their heads a ceramic pot or a tray (ka ya) containing fruit or a set of terracotta teacups. On the tray is a ceramic pot or teapot usually containing plain water or green tea to offer to the gods or to invite distinguished guests. From these practical movements in daily life and work, the Cham people created the "water carrying" dance.

The "water carrying" dance is a skillful and ingenious combination of the peacock dance and the daily labor of Cham women. The combination makes Cham girls look graceful and supple like a flock of peacocks flying. This dance has become a typical ritual of the Cham people in welcoming distinguished guests.

The image of the skillful, graceful, rhythmic hands of Cham women in production labor is recreated in the mixed dance of peacock dance and "water carrying" dance in the Kate celebration at Thanh Y village stadium.

In addition to the Cham people in Thanh Y village, the festival also attracted a large number of people in Hai Thanh commune (Phan Rang - Thap Cham city) to come and watch and cheer. On the evening of October 15, Thanh Y village continued to organize a stage performance night with many unique Cham art performances to celebrate the Kate festival.

The smile of a dancer at the Kate festival performance of the Cham people in Thanh Y village. The festival truly brings joy and bright smiles to the faces of the people after a year of hard work. The festival not only preserves the traditional Cham culture but also helps the community and villages become more united, loving and helping each other.

The 2023 Kate Festival of the Cham people following Brahmanism in Ninh Thuan province will be held from October 13-15. The main ceremony will be held on the morning of October 14 at 3 Cham temple and tower areas: Po Klong Garai Tower (Phan Rang - Thap Cham City), Po Rome Tower and Po Inư Nưgar Temple (Ninh Phuoc District). In addition to traditional rituals such as: The procession of costumes up to the tower, the opening ceremony of the main tower, the Kate worship ceremony at the main tower, this year's Kate Festival will also be organized by localities with a large Cham community with folk games, sports activities, cultural and artistic activities imbued with the traditional culture of the Cham people. In 2017, the Kate Festival of the Cham people was included in the list of National Intangible Cultural Heritage by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

Thanh Y village, Thanh Hai commune (Phan Rang - Thap Cham city, Ninh Thuan) has nearly 400 households, with more than 2,000 Cham people. Preparing for the Kate festival, the young people in the village gather to practice performing arts; mothers and sisters are busy preparing cakes and fruits, decorating their houses beautifully. People far from home have also returned to gather almost in large numbers with their families to happily welcome Kate.

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