According to information from the Organizing Committee of the Chua Ro Bull Racing Festival , this year's Bull Racing Festival is expected to take place on September 8 at the racing field located on the temple's land.
Currently, there are 24 pairs of oxen from the Khmer people in the Bay Nui area (including Tinh Bien town and Tri Ton district) registered to participate. Although the number is smaller than the Bay Nui Ox Racing Festival (an activity at the provincial level), the Chua Ro Ox Racing Festival is eagerly awaited by many people, especially photographers and researchers of ethnic folklore... because of its uniqueness and cultural depth.
The Chua Ro Bull Racing Festival preserves the traditional identity of the Khmer people in the Bay Nui region - the owners of this unique cultural and sport. Maintaining the traditional rules in the competition method, the Chua Ro Bull Racing Festival creates conditions for the owners of the pairs of bulls to boldly accelerate on the racetrack, creating fierce breakthroughs.
In addition, the bull racing series here also maintains the “last piece” in the bull racing series according to traditional rules. That is the activity of planting rice right on the dirt field that was plowed by the bulls during the competition. This is something that has not been recorded in the activities of the Bay Nui Bull Racing Festival.
According to the tradition of many years, after the bull racing activity ends, the Organizing Committee of the Ro Pagoda Bull Racing Festival also organizes the Rice Planting Festival in the afternoon of the same day. The monks of Ro Pagoda will join the people in planting rice seedlings at the racetrack area. This not only creates a joyful atmosphere and national solidarity during the festival, but also vividly transmits the ancient rituals of our ancestors for today's generation to feel and remember.
Ro Pagoda is located in An Cu commune (Tinh Bien town) like many other pagodas of the Khmer people in the Bay Nui region. The pagoda follows Theravada Buddhism and has a long tradition of bull racing.
Bull racing in the Bay Nui region is a long-standing cultural and sporting activity with its own unique and attractive style, originating from agriculture and religion. During the filial piety festival (Donta festival), one of the three major festivals of the year for the Khmer people in the Southern region (including Chol-chhnam-thmay and Ok-om-bok), the pagoda organizes the Bull Racing Festival.
Khmer people in the villages and hamlets choose the best pair of oxen to compete on the racetrack, which is also the land of the pagoda used to grow rice. The winning pair of oxen will be given a ca-tha (a rope worn around the neck of the ox, decorated with unique colors, materials, and shapes).
Then monks and people together plant rice seedlings, starting the new rice crop of the year. These activities have been passed down through many generations and create a unique identity for the rich culture of the Khmer community in Bay Nui, An Giang.
