Cene Dolta - the ceremony of the Khmer in the South of Vietnam

If the Vu Lan ceremony of the Kinh people is considered to be a “filial season” of the children to honor their parents, the Dolta ceremony of the Khmer ethnic minority also has the same meaning. In Cene Dolta, every member of the family will get together.

The ceremony takes place in 3 days, from 29 August to 01 September in the lunar calendar.

According to the customs of the Southern Khmer, every year on August 29 to the first day of the 9th lunar month, relatives celebrate the Sola Đôta ceremony or call the grandparents to commemorate their gratitude. and the blessings of the souls of the deceased, those in the deceased kinship and grateful ancestors have cleared the land, blessing the peace and prosperity.

According to the customs of the Southern Khmer, every year from 29 August to the first day of the 9th lunar month, people celebrate the Sene Dolta or the grandparents worshiping ceremony to commemorate their gratitude to their parents, their ancestors who exploited land and pray for peace and prosperity.

The origin of Sene Dolta Ceremony:

The Sene Dolta is base on a Buddhist sutra. The sutra says that one night, King Ping-pis-sara suddenly heard some people scream, crying, begging for food and drink as they were hungry. Then the King summoned the prophets to ask and finally find out the reason. The prophets said that those things were the devil spirits who dead wrongly without memory or relatives, then they came there to beg for a meal.

The King came to the temple of Buddha Shakyamuni. The Buddha said that those are the chefs of the king in 92 lives ago. However, because they stove the offerings so after dying they turned to be the devils in the realm and were punished to fast. Since then they’d fasted for 92 lives, then the devil spirits knew the king was their master so they came there to claim food. 

According to the teaching of the Buddha, the king offered rice to the monks for their recitation of blessing for the devil. Nevertheless, we can’t give the food directly to them, so we have to offer the food to the monks. After reciting to pray for the devils, they finally received the food from the king.

On the second night, the king heard the crying again. He came to ask for the teaching of the Buddha. The Buddha said: “Last night the devil only ate well, but there are no clothes for them so they cried for being cold”. The King told people to prepare clothes and food to offer to the monks.

Since then, annually, the king invited the monks to delicate for the devils and deceased people.

From the above mentioned Buddhist scriptures, the Southern Khmer held the Sene Dolta Ceremony as a custom, related to the religious ceremony with the hope of praying for their parents, and ancestors to be born soon and have a better life in the next life.

Later, with the appearance of the Buddhist temples, the Khmer gathered to the temple to worship the grandparents and choose that the Sene Dolta was from the 16th to the end of August in the lunar calendar. The ceremony has 4 main rituals at the temple and each Khmer home including Banh Canh Banh, Banh Sen Dolta, Banh Phchum Banh and Banh Chuonh Dolta.

Today, the ceremony is organized by the Khmer for a shorter period of time which is only three days:

The first day (the welcoming day): This day people clean the house and especially the altar. They prepare a tray of rice, fruit, wine. The family members will burn the incense for inviting their ancestors spirits to attend the meal with their children. In the afternoon, people dress beautifully and continue to prepare the meal to invite the spirits to visit the temple and hear the monks chanting until night.

On the second day (the main worship day): the Khmer bring trays of fruit and rice to the temple to hold a collective worship. After the monks chanting for all of the grandparents' soul of people there, everyone gathers to eat and exchange the experiences in farm work and life at the temple. In the afternoon, each family takes their deceased relatives to home, makes a new tray of a meal and invites them to stay with their children.

On the third day (the farewell day): Each family prepares a tray of rice and invite some monks and relatives to make a farewell for their grandparents. The Khmer make a boat made of banana stems with a flag, two bogies representing for the ancestors, rice, clothes, money, etc. They burn the incense, put the boat into the river with the belief that the boat with the flow of water, it will take the ancestors to the afterlife.

The Khmer Southerners’ Sene Dolta Ceremony is one of the most significant meaningful ceremonies of filial piety, remembrance of the deceased privous genaration. Moreover, this ceremony has shown the traditional beauty of Vietnamese culture and religious which is associated with the religious activities of South Khmer temple.

To discover the Khmer culture 

=> 3 days in the Mekong Delta