Bay Nui Ox Racing Festival: Traditional cultural beauty of Khmer people in An Giang

The Bay Nui Bull Racing Festival is held on the occasion of the annual Sene Dolta Festival to commemorate the merits of grandparents and ancestors, one of the biggest holidays of the year for the Khmer people in the South in general and the Bay Nui region in particular.

Traditionally, the Khmer people are very devout Buddhists (Theravada), so on this occasion, people bring cows to the temple fields to plow the land, preparing for the new crop as a way to accumulate merit for their ancestors. Over time, this activity has become a unique cultural and sports festival only for the Khmer people in the Bay Nui region.

The Bay Nui Bull Racing Festival not only demonstrates the traditional cultural beauty imbued with humanity of the Khmer ethnic group in the South, but the festival is also a meaningful sports and entertainment playground for Khmer farmers after hours of hard work in the fields.

The festival is not only associated with the custom of praying for favorable weather, good harvests and a prosperous life, but also demonstrates the enthusiastic working spirit of the Khmer people, making the festival even more sacred and solemn.

This is also a playground, a place to enjoy culture and find national traditions that have special value in the increasingly strong connection between the Kinh and Khmer communities.

The pairs of oxen sprint to the finish line. (Photo: Cong Mao/VNA)

The 2025 Bay Nui Ox Racing Festival will take place on September 20 at the Ta Pa-Soai Chek Sports- Tourism Complex, Tri Ton Commune, An Giang Province, with 64 pairs of oxen participating.

This is the 30th time the Bay Nui Bull Racing Festival has been held at the provincial level, and also the first time it has been held after the merger of An Giang and Kien Giang provinces.

The pairs of oxen participating in the Bay Nui Ox Racing Festival this year come from communes and wards in An Giang province (mainly communes and wards in the Bay Nui area) such as: Tri Ton, O Lam, Vinh Gia, Co To, Chi Lang, Tinh Bien.

The oxen will compete in a draw and knockout format. The teams will continue to compete in a knockout format until the final round to find the champion. The organizing committee will award trophies, flags, gifts and cash prizes to the first, second, third, fourth and consolation prizes, as well as the “Best oxen driver” prize.

The competing pairs of oxen are cared for by their owners according to their own secret recipes. The “Ox Riders” (ox drivers) have been training diligently for many months to be able to win the highest prize.

Before entering the race, the cow owners draw lots to choose the pair of cows that will go first and the pair that will go after; usually, the pair that goes after has an advantage; if during the race, in the calling round, any pair of cows runs off the track, or if the pair of cows that comes after steps on the harrow (a wooden board 30cm wide, 90cm long, with harrow teeth underneath) of the pair of cows that go before, they will be disqualified; but in the dropping round, the pair of cows that come after only need to step on the harrow of the pair of cows that go before to win.

The bull driver must stand firmly. If he falls or falls off the harrow during the race, he will be considered a loser.

In the slow-moving round, the "oxen jockeys" (oxen drivers) show their skill by keeping the pair of oxen on the right track and not stepping on the harrows of the pair of oxen in front. (Photo: Cong Mao/VNA)

Entering the competition, the two pairs of oxen will compete in a round of "calling" and a round of "releasing" ("calling" - is the round for the pairs of oxen to get used to the racetrack to gain momentum; "releasing" - when the referee gives the signal, the oxen driver uses a "xalul" - a round piece of wood about 3cm in diameter, with a sharp nail at the end, to stab the buttocks of his 2 oxen, so that the pair of oxen can use all their strength to run to the finish line), to choose the winning pair of oxen to enter the next round of competition. The champion pair of oxen must participate in all the rounds of competition and eliminate each direct "opponent".

After the Seven Mountains Bull Racing Festival ends, people will not butcher or sell them but keep them as a valuable asset for the family to preserve, care for and be more proud of the victory they have achieved.

In addition to the Bay Nui Bull Racing Festival, there are also cultural programs, exhibition activities, promoting some images of the locality and the province, and organizing folk games of the Khmer ethnic group.

In addition, Tri Ton commune displays local specialties such as Bay Nui milk rice, palm sugar, palm oil..., and introduces many traditional dishes typical of the Bay Nui region such as O Thum grilled chicken, grilled frog, pickled papaya, grilled beef... and palm sweet soup, palm cake, and eggplant cake.

After 29 times of organization, Bay Nui Bull Racing Festival has become a unique cultural feature of the Bay Nui community in Tri Ton commune, attracting the attention of tourists, being a highlight in tourism activities in the Mekong Delta in particular and the whole country.

With its unique values, in 2016, the Bay Nui Bull Racing Festival was recognized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage.

On February 27, 2020, the People's Committee of An Giang province (old) issued a decision approving the project to preserve and promote the value of the intangible cultural heritage of the Bay Nui Bull Racing Festival (2020-2025).

The basic content of the project includes research, collection, inventory and digitization of documents; restoration of related practices and rituals; development of criteria for conservation of racing bull breeds, racing bull care techniques, training and control skills./.

(Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/hoi-dua-bo-bay-nui-net-dep-van-hoa-truyen-thong-cua-dong-bao-khmer-o-an-giang-post1062602.vnp