The annual Kate Festival of Cham ethnic minorities who follow theBrahmin religion in the south central province of Ninh Thuan begins onOctober 4. The festival is an occasion for the Cham people to pay theirrespect to their heroes.

Many sport and cultural events willtake place over three days. Traditional music, sport and entertainmentperformances will be held at major temples and towers. Khmer girls innice gowns and traditional fan dances will captivate visitors. Participants can dance with Khmer girls and relax with Ginang drummingand Saranai trumpeting.

More than 200 traditional costumesand accessories of female Vietnamese minorities in southern provinces aswell as objects of ethnic Cham will be displayed at the Centre for ChamCultural Studies in the province's Phan Rang-Thap Cham City.

Ninh Thuan has 74,000 Cham, nearly 12 percent of the province'spopulation. Of that number, 43,000 follow the Brahmin religion and livein 27 villages of 12 communes in seven districts and cities in theprovince. The Khmer people in Ninh Thuan have preserved several uniquefolk festivals as Kate, Ramawan, Rija Nagar, and two traditionalvillages – the My Nghiep weaving village and the Bau Truc potteryvillage.

This year the Kate Festival, one of the 15 biggestfolk festivals in Vietnam, will be held at the three major towers andtemples of the Khmer in the province: the Po Ina Nagar temple in HuuDuc-Ninh Phuoc; Po Klaong Garay tower in Do Vinh of Phan Rang city; Chamtower and Po Rome tower in Hau Sanh-Ninh Phuoc, The Vietnam Netonline newspaper reports.

The festivalconsists of two parts, rituals and festivities. The first day is forthe ceremony to receive Goddess Po Nagar's costumes in Huu Duc hamlet.The ceremony takes place from 1.30 p.m of the first day to 9 p.m of thesame day in the hamlet's temple. Po Nagar, the Khmer people consider themother of their land, taught local people to grow rice, plant cotton,weave clothing and carry out the festival.

The secondday is for Kate Festival at Cham towers. The costume receiving ritual(often starting at 7 a.m): All the royal costumes at Cham tower templesare kept by the Raglai people. Therefore, at the Kate Festival, theKhmer people have to do a ceremony to welcome the Ragrai people whobring the costumes to the Cham tower temples. The ceremony is heldsolemnly because it initiates the whole festival.

The ceremony to receive costumes at Po Nagar temple takes place in theafternoon, one day before the official festival day at the towertemples. It starts at 1.30 p.m and finishes at 9 p.m the same day.Similar ceremonies at Po Rome and Po Klong Garai towers take place inthe next morning. Although they take place at different times, therituals are almost the same.

On the day of theceremony to receive King Po Klong Garai's costumes at Po Klong Graitemple in Phuoc Dong, the Raglai people arrive there in the earlymorning. The man who takes care of the temple offers liquor and eggs toask for gods' permission to take the costumes to Po Klong Garai towerfor a ritual. When he finishes his job, King Po Klong Garai's costumesare put on a palanquin and taken to Po Klong Garai tower.

The way from Phuoc Dong hamlet to the tower is about four kilometers.As soon as the procession arrives at the tower, a group of dancers willperform a dance in front of the tower. This dance will also be performedat the end of any stage of the Khmer people's rituals. The similarceremony at Po Rome Tower takes place on the same day.-VNA