Локальные особенности проведения фестиваля Рамуван среди вьетнамской религиозной группы чам бани

1. Bani Cham people in Vietnam

1.1. Population and place of residence

The Cham people in Vietnam are also known as Chiêm, Chiêm Thành, Hời, Cam, Champa, Chàm. The Cham people belong to the Austronesian race, one of the five ethnic races in Vietnam belonging to the Malayo - Polynesian language family (Malayo - Polinésien) (Phan 2019).

According to the results of the 2019 population and housing census, 167,729 Cham people are living in central Vietnam. In which, there are 67,274 people in Ninh Thuan province, 34,690 people in Binh Thuan province. The remaining Cham people inhabit in the South of Vietnam. Among them, Ho Chi Minh City has 10,000 people, An Giang has the largest number of Cham people, more than 14,200 (Population and Housing Census of the year of 2019).

The Cham people who follow Balamon have always called themselves Cham Ahier, while the Bani Cham call themselves Awal Cham (Phan 2006, 11). Amongst the 67,000 Cham people in Ninh Thuan, the Cham community following Bani consists of nearly 30,000 people, living in 10 villages, most populous in Xuan Hai commune, Ninh Hai district and Phuoc Nam commune, Ninh Phuoc district[1]. These 10 Cham Bani villages conduct religious activities in 7 mosque (Thang - Mwgik). Moreover, in 1962, more than 2,000 Islam people immigrated to Ninh Thuan[2].

1.2. Origin of the Bani religion

The Cham people in central Vietnam follow two main religions: Balamonism and Bani. They have adopted Balamonism since establishment of the country in the first centuries AD. For a long time, the Cham Balamon did not come into contact with international Balamon, which localised the religon with many indigenous elements. During the existent period of Champa country, in the 13^th century, the Cham people expanded their trade with Malaysian and Indonesian. As a result, they also adopted Islam. A large number of Cham Balamon community converted to Islam. After the country of Champa disbanded, even though Muslim society is patriarchal, with many religious dignitaries being men, the Cham Bani society as well as the Cham Brahmans in Ninh Thuan and Binh Thuan remained matriarchal.