KATÊ Festival – The Spirit Of The Lost Kingdom
A nation’s festivals are definitely the most marked reflection when one wants to study about a country.
You may think of the Viet people themselves when someone says “Vietnamese”, followed by an image of a lady with a long and fit-like-a-glove outfit wearing a bamboo conical hat will come up in your mind.
Well, it can be true, or not!
The Viet community, or “Kinh”, as they call themselves, only makes up about 83% of the population in Vietnam. It is pretty much NOT a pure nation, or at least not as pure as Korea. Among the rest, Cham is constantly misconceived by other Vietnamese citizens as one of the ethnic groups in Vietnam throughout many centuries without recognizing that these people are all related to their own kingdom located in the Central part of Vietnam in olden times.
The Cham people have observed a national event. Katê is an annual festival held on the 1st day of July on the Cham calendar. Serving the same meaning as Christmas in Western countries or Lunar New Year in the East, Katê is the most important festival of the Cham following Brahmanism. They believe that it marks the extreme harmony of Yin and Yang, allows them to interact with Gods and performs offerings to their ancestors.
As usual, before the inauguration day of the festival, vestures of the most venerable Gods and Goddesses are carried to three temples scattered among three different districts throughout the city where this community was born. Notwithstanding the heterogeneity regarding its venues, the timing of the ceremonies must be preserved.
Temples are the very first venues where Katê is celebrated, followed by villages, cliques and families. Their offerings would be honored to the Sky and the Earth, followed by Gods and Goddesses, and finally the worship of their ancestors.
“Every year, when it comes to Tagilao* blooming all over the hill, we are all flocking just to prepare everything for Katê, just so down with that! You know, crops would be abundant, living beings are so growing, we are all well secured and prosperous!” – said Đàng Năng Phú, a Cham resident.
According to some anthropologists, Katê is an iconic ritual symbolizing the extreme harmony of Yin and Yang, Gods and Goddesses, the Earth and the Sky, mother and father, lowlands and highlands, etc. That is a special feature in religious beliefs of the Cham.
Newly harvested yield is chosen as an offering. Subsequently, an act of freshening and dressing up of holy statues with magnificent costumes proceeds with euphonious sound from Kanhi*, played by a Cham man, in the aim of inviting Gods into the temples to witness the attendance of all the Cham community.
The ceremony is only ended once they finish a ceremonial dance considered as a farewell party to all these Gods.
But that is far from the end of everything. A great number of competitions, folk games and local activities await back home. This up-all-night occasion is a splendid moment for these Cham people to take a short rest before starting a new crop with tons of obstacles.
Throughout many centuries from the II to the XIX, Champa (a Southeast Asian kingdom, which all the Cham people belonged to) was one of the most important and striking civilizations having a great impact on, not only Vietnam – its neighboring country, but the international seaborne trade as well. In more recent history, Champa progressively began to lose its place through wars and unstable political conditions. Consequently, reclaiming its reputation is an act of honoring their later generations and preserving its national spirit.
*Tagilao: a so-called Queen’s Crape-myrtle or Pride of India, a flower named by the Cham.
*Kanhi: a traditional instrument of the Cham.