Локальные особенности проведения фестиваля Рамуван среди вьетнамской религиозной группы чам бани

 2.3. Feasts in the month of Lent Ramưvan

Beside the first day of the festival, in the month of Ramưvan there are the following festivals:

2.3.1. Muk trun (ceremony of the Grandma coming to Earth) held on the 15^th night, after Mass, believers offer sweet offerings, gum, sticky rice, and bananas. After this ritual, Awal and Ahier relatives are allowed to kill and sacrifice in the house.

2.3.2. Oâng trun ceramony (ceremony of Oâng coming to Earth) is held on the 20th night, after Mass, parishioners make sweet offerings like the 15^th night. In this festival, they also organise "Ikak dadô" for the children who are usually vulnerable and sick. After this ceremony, devotees perform Bu Allahâm ceremony, for the children who have passed the Katat ritual at the age of 15, the offerings are chicken porridge, baked rice paper, fruits and cakes.

2.2.3. Tuh brah (Rice offering ceremony) is held on the 27^th day, parishioners bring rice to offer with the meaning of offering rice to deceased relatives. This rice is distributed to the families of the monks who cook rice to invite their relatives, the elders in the temple village to eat at dawn on the 1^st day of the 10^th month Muslim calendar.

2.3.4. Talaih (The Ending Ceremony of Ramuwan) is held on the morning of the 1^st of October in the Muslim calendar, to thank Po Aâwloah and the gods for helping the Bani Muslims completing the fasting month of Ramưwan. Devotees offer two sweet and salty trays alike the Ancestor Worshiping ceremony.

3. The first step of learning the indigenous elements of the Ramưvan festival

Through trade relations with the island countries Southeast Asian countries, a part of the Cham adopted Islam around the 13^th century, much later than the time of embracing Brahmanism and forming the Islam community in Cham group. After a long time of being separated from the global Islam community, the indigenous cultural elements in the Southeast Asian wet-rice agricultural culture of the Cham people arose, mixed and transformed into religious life, dominating the teachings and canon of Islam, forming a separate religion called Bani (Cham Awal community). Bani is a form of religion that embodies both Islamic elements and indigenous cultural elements in Southeast Asia. Ramưvan festival is the main and most important festival of an Islamic year. In this festival, it also showcases indigenous cultural elements. In the process of studying and comparing, there can be seen the indigenous elements in the Ramưvan festival of the Cham Bani with the Islamic festival of Ramadan (Islam).

The influence of the matriarchy: Islam is a patriarchal religion with quite clear gender discrimination. But for the Cham Bani, the matrilineal system is still maintained today. This influences quite a lot in religious activities. Unlike orthodox international Islam, women are not allowed to enter mosques but for the Cham Bani during the festival season, women play an important role. Women prepare the trays of offerings, wear the most beautiful traditional costumes, do not have to cover their faces, and put on very beautiful trays for the dignitaries to perform the ceremonies.

About Bani mosques: Bani mosques are built in the style of traditional houses of the Cham people. The form is much different from international mosques. However, a common feature is that the inside and outside of the mosque must be very clean. The inside of the mosuqes are not decorated with pictures; it is a spacious and vented area. The sanctuary (Kanraong) placed in the center of the western wall is a decorated place for the Acars to recite the Kuru-ưn (Qu’ran) during the fasting month of Ramưwan or the Friday Masses (Harei Jamư-at). The rest of the mosque is not decorated or displayed with images or idols. The atmosphere inside the mosque is always quiet, creating a sense of sanctity and holiness. Unlike Islamic mosques where women are not allowed to enter, in Bani mosques, women and children are allowed to. During the Ramưvan festival, women wear very large and beautiful trays into the mosque for the Cars monks to perform the ceremony.

About the name of the Ramưvan festival: In addition to saying from Ramadan to Ramưvan, the month of fasting is called Pambăng muk kei or Pandih ơh. In the Cham language, the word pambăng muk kei means the ceremony of worshipping ancestors, or pandih ơk (fasting). Since the month of Ramadan, fasting and worshiping Allah and Mohammed, the Cham people have combined with the ancestry worshiping ceremony, giving an opportunity to tend graves, commemorate their ancestors and celebrate family members’ meetings. Therefore, it is gradually considered as the "Tet" of the Cham Bani community.