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Lễ cúng Ông Tà (Đom Lơng Néak Tà) của người Khơ-me

Culture and belief A record of custom.

About this rite: when it is held and for whom

Also called: Lễ hội Ông Tà, Đom Lơng Neak Ta, Lễ cầu an của phum sóc, Cúng Neak Tà

The cầu an (prayer for peace and safety) rite of the phum sóc at the Ông Tà shrine, performed by monks, praying for favourable rain and wind before the sowing season; the Đom Lơng Néak Tà festival in Trà Vinh has been a national intangible cultural heritage since 2024.

When
One day chosen by each phum sóc (hamlet) within the third, fourth, or fifth lunar month, at the start of the rainy season
For whom
Néak Tà (Ông Tà), the guardian deity of the phum sóc, worshipped through stones in the shrine

Offerings and how the rite is done

As commonly practised and recorded by the sources. Each family and each region may do it differently.

Mekong Delta, Khmer, Trà Vinh, Folk practice

When
Each phum sóc chooses a day within the third, fourth, or fifth lunar month, at the transition from the dry season to the rainy season; nowadays most hold it over two days
Where the offerings are set
The Néak Tà shrine (Ông Tà shrine) of the phum sóc
Who makes the offering
The whole phum sóc; the ritual is performed by the monks

Offerings

OfferingNotes
A new red cloth draped over the stones representing Néak TàRequired
A pig's head, or boiled chicken or duckaccording to the article in Tạp chí Quản lý nhà nước
Wine, cakes, fruit, flowers, incense and lamps
Items shared by the community and separate portions for each family

Steps

  1. The person responsible in the phum sóc announces the day and time to the families
  2. Morning of the first day: cleaning and decorating the shrine, putting up the tent; washing the stones and draping them with new red cloth
  3. The monks perform the rite to pray for favourable rain and wind and for the peace of the phum sóc
  4. After the offering, those present take a portion of the offerings home, and the rest is eaten together by the whole phum sóc
  5. Ngũ âm (five-tone) music, Rô băm, Dù kê, Chhay dam drums and games depending on each place

Where the sources differ

  • Timing: two Báo Văn Hóa articles record the third, fourth, or fifth lunar month; the Tạp chí Quản lý nhà nước article records the months of Chetr and Pih sak according to the Khmer calendar, around the fifth or sixth solar month, and cites a survey in Trà Vinh recording the fourth or fifth solar month, before or after Chôl Chnăm Thmây, with offerings over one to three days

Southern Vietnam (Nam Bộ, no finer detail in the source), Khmer, Folk practice

When
The journal article records the 4th and 5th days of the month of Visák (the 5th solar month)
Where the offerings are set
Neak Tà shrine: a few large and small stones under the shade of trees, on a mound of earth, or a shrine built within the pagoda grounds; in some places there is no shrine, and offerings are placed on a mound while prayers are said

Offerings

OfferingNotes
Simple offerings and Buddhist scripturesthe journal article records that the pagoda uses these in place of the former custom of sacrificing a buffalo to Ông Tà Hóc and bà Dây Chas
A bunch of bananas, three lumps of xôi (steamed sticky rice); better-off households add chicken, duck, a pig's head and a bottle of white wineaccording to the article in Báo Pháp Luật TP.HCM

Steps

  1. Place the offerings before the stones at the shrine and say the prayers

Things to avoid

  • When passing by the Ông Tà shrine, take off one's hat, remove one's headscarf, and bow slightly

Sources

  • Phát huy Lễ hội Đom Lơng Néak Tà gắn với phát triển du lịch (baovanhoa.vn)
  • Trà Vinh: Bảo tồn Di sản văn hóa phi vật thể quốc gia Lễ hội Đom Lơng Néak Tà gắn với phát triển du lịch (baovanhoa.vn)
  • Trà Vinh: Thêm một lễ hội truyền thống của đồng bào Khmer trở thành Di sản văn hóa phi vật thể quốc gia (baoquocte.vn, theo Vietnam+)
  • Phát huy giá trị tín ngưỡng thờ Neak Ta của người Khmer Nam Bộ tại tỉnh Trà Vinh, Tạp chí Quản lý nhà nước, 5/9/2024 (quanlynhanuoc.vn)
  • Nguyễn Xuân Hậu, Vài nét về sự tiếp biến, ảnh hưởng của Phật giáo Theravada đối với tôn giáo và lễ tục truyền thống người Khmer ở Nam Bộ, Nghiên cứu Tôn giáo số 4/2014 (vjol.info.vn)
  • Ông Tà mà không tà (Báo Pháp Luật TP.HCM, tuoitre.vn/plo)

Part of the open dataset Types of Vietnamese offering rites and Vietnamese offering procedures, licensed CC BY 4.0.

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