Traditional creativity in the practice of Chol Chnam Thmay festival of Khmer people in Loc Ninh district, Binh Phuoc province, Vietnam today

Abstract

Chol Chnam Thmay is one of the typical traditional festivals of Khmer people living in Loc Ninh in the Southeastern region of Vietnam as well as in the Mekong Delta in the Southwestern region of Vietnam and in some other Southeast Asian countries. Similar to Khmer people in other regions, festivals of Khmer people in Loc Ninh are also formed and integrated from three cultural lines: folk beliefs, Brahminism, and Buddhism. However, due to the peculiarities of natural conditions, and historical and social circumstances, Khmer people’s festivals in Loc Ninh have specific cultural features, which have contributed to the formation and development of the Khmer ethnic identity in Loc Ninh as well as the cultural identity of the Southeastern region of Vietnam. Based on Hobsbawm's theoretical approach to “Traditional Creativity”, combining Ethnographic/Anthropological field methods, the research results show that Chol Chnam Thmay festival of the Khmer people in Loc Ninh has had a lot of changes. The the changes of the festival is the consequence of the “Traditional Creativity” process in the restoration and practice of the Khmer community's festival. In addition to the impact of the natural environment, and historical and social circumstances, these changes are also affected by cultural exchange factors, globalization, integration, and especially, impacts from the policies on socio-economic and cultural development of the Vietnamese Communist Party and State implemented in localities in the Southeastern region of Vietnam at present.