| Description |
The celebration, which is connected to Theravada Buddhism, takes place in honor of the Đôn-ta festival, or grandparents worship event, which falls between the end of August and the beginning of September on the lunar calendar. The Ox Racing Festival was first held during the harvest season in Thất Sơn region to imitate a competitive work environment and boost labor efficiency among the Khmer people. To support the temple, families brought cows to plow the fields. The monk thanked him by holding an ox race after he finished plowing. The ability to choose and care for cows is a special quality of the Bảy Núi people. When competing, each pair of competing oxen drags a harrow and Nai stands on top. The ox rider will use a whip and jack to push the pair of oxen to run 2 laps to the finish line. The cleverness of the ox Runner ensures that in the first round, the pair of oxes get used to the race, and in the second round the pair of oxes sprint quickly to the finish line. There are two types of racing: in the dry season, racing oxen pulling carts with wooden wheels on sandy roads; During the rainy season, drag competitions take place in rice fields. The reward is a silver bracelet or a rattle ring. From the scale of a pagoda, ox racing later expanded into a commune, district, and now the whole province. Competing cows must be of the same breed, with light yellow hair, gentle temperament, bravery, tall stature, stiff legs, small toenails, toughness, etc. The racetrack is a flat field, about 200m long, plowed land, water intrusion, and surrounded by a bank. The starting and finishing points of the two races have green and red flags respectively. Whichever track a cow starts on will finish that track. The driver of the racing ox stands on a long harrow (one end of the rope is attached to the yoke of the ox). ox racing has two rounds: the calling round (going around the racetrack, surveying opponents) and the dropping round (sprint). In both rounds, the driver must have a steady hand; if he falls, he loses.
|
