The Khmer dolta ceremony

The Khmer's Donta Ceremony was held at the end of August of the lunar calendar, one of the important festivals, which were considered by the Khmer as the second Tet of the year.

In fact, the Donta Festival starts from August 16 of the lunar calendar and lasts until the end of the 8th lunar month every year. During this time, the Khmer families often bring rice, fruits, fruit bread ... to the temple to make a ceremony to worship the souls of the deceased and pray for those souls. However, we also know that, during this time, the monks were in the downstream period (1) and this is also the time that families offer real things to the monks to use to pay homage (2). This makes the Donta Festival meaning quite profound.

The main ceremony of the Donta Festival is focused on the last day of the month. Previously, the main ceremony was not only held in one day, but 3 days, from August 29 to the lunar calendar to September 1 of the lunar calendar every year (3).

The first day is the day of "welcoming" grandparents to use the deck and going to the temple, the third day is the "worship" day (grandparents). During the day of worship, some places made a boat (with banana sheath) to bring offerings including some rice, food, fruit cake, rice, beans ... according to grandparents. On the boat, people also make crocodiles, chameleon (with banana sheath) mounted in the nose and drive the boat (4).

On the evening of 29 (August), that is, the time of entering the ceremony of the ceremony of Donta, a large number of Khmer people gathered to the temple to join the monks to chant the Sutra, Tho Trai Gioi (Ngu Gioi or Bat Quan Trai Gioi) and then listen to the lecture. That night, after completing the rituals of the ceremony, everyone was together to organize arts and plays ... The five -sounding rig was served and everyone sang, with Ram Won dance ... In the early morning of the 30th, all families prepared sticky rice, rice, fruits, fruit bread to bring to the temple to offer to the souls of the people who were too past and partly to use for the monks. Just like in the Chol Chnam Thmay ceremony, families with conditions will make traditional cakes of the nation such as tet cakes, little cakes to worship, to offer to monks, treat guests and use in the family. That day, everyone and the monks together entered the main hall (if they were too crowded, they were in the lecture hall - Sala Giang) to read the Sutta. The ceremony ended after the Satan had lunch and everyone used the community meal at the temple, because each family contributed to the food - food of their fruit cake for that intimate meal. It is worth noting that in the Donta festival season, especially on the end of the month, in the offerings to bring offerings to the temple, there are crunches of rice or sticky rice, called "Bai Bong". It is known that this type of rice and sticky rice "Bai Bai" is mainly to worship the soul, during the Donta holiday is often left off the temple yard (only the poor will eat) (5).

Due to the nature of the reality to worship the souls of the deceased, for the souls, so that the monk used as well as for the community meal, especially the "ball" that the main holiday of the Donta Ceremony (August 30 of the lunar calendar) was called the "Phchum ball" day, meaning the "contribution of cake". The Donta Ceremony is sometimes called the "Phchum ball" ceremony.

After finishing the ceremony at the temple in the morning of Phchum Banh, people returned home to worship their grandparents, called the "Sen Chaktum" ceremony. According to the tradition of the Khmer, the worshiping ceremony of grandparents is often held in the home of the oldest, where the ancestor altar. Normally, the ceremony is held at home of parents and all families and children will focus on to worship the grandparents. Depending on the financial capacity of each member family, one can contribute more or less, maybe in cash or in kind (rice, sticky rice, fruit cake ...). People make a deck, light incense to offer offerings to their grandparents and ancestors, begging their souls to be super escape and begged, begging grandparents to bless. In some places in the southwestern provinces, the Khmer still keeps a boat as a boat to bring gifts to him and this boat is released into the river. After that, people invited neighbors and friends to come together to eat and drink until the evening ... In short, through the ritual, time and how to organize the ceremony can see, the Donta Festival is a combination of the form of agricultural ritual and ancestral worshiping ceremony and Buddhist death ceremony (6). The nature of the Agricultural Ceremony is shown through the time of organizing the ceremony associated with the period of rising of the rice (pregnant rice) with the custom of "giving rice to rice" ... The nature of the ancestor worship is expressed through the form of offering offerings to "grandparents" (Donta) that has been too past and on this basis, the "amnesty of the dead" of Buddhism has been integrated into the Donta Festival. The "consolidation" of the meaning of the Donta festival has made it important in the Khmer community festival system in general.