The Biggest Festival in Soc Trang

Thac Con Festival or we can say Cung Dua Festival is the most popular festival in Soc Trang Province. The name Cung Dua of the festival originates from that the main offerings in this festival are thousands of fresh coconut. The festival takes place according to the Khmer calendar. Nevertheless, it usually corresponds to March in lunar calendar. Cung Dua festival is held in An Trach Town, Chau Thanh District, Soc Trang province.
 

So far, no one knows about the history of the festival. It’s like a tradition of the villagers there. However, according to some people of the village, the festival is more than 100 years old. They said that there was a legend related to it. Long long time ago, there was a group of young shepherds, they discovered a mound. With the curiosity, they took the foot on the mound. Suddenly, their footstep echoed from the ground which sounds like the gong sound. After that, everyone in the villages tried and heard the echoes. Later, a pregnant woman also wanted to step on the mound. But when she stepped on it, they heard nothing. Since then, Khmer people named this place Thac Con and built a shrine on the mound.

Every year, the An Trach villagers hold the Thac Con festival to pray for peace in front of this shrine. In the Khmer language, Thac Con means “Golden Gong”. This name is correlative with the echo of the gong in the legend. Thac Con festival has a special worship coconut flower vases tradition. This unique feature of the offerings makes people call the festival by the name Cung Dua.

In front of the Thac Con shrine, people usually prepare a couple of coconuts to put on the shrine altar. They donate coconut with a traditional folk belief which is praying for a pure heart as the coconut water.

The Thac Con Festival in Soc Trang of Khmer people expresses the aspirations for peace and happiness. They pray for prosperous weather, bumper harvests and last but not least, the peaceful life of people around them. The offering is the special fruit imprinting of Khmer religious belief. The flower vases are made of coconuts, this is a unique fruit with pure and sweet symbolizing for the purity and sacred. The flower in the coconut flower vase is made of green betel leaves and flowers.

Lotus with the purity meaning becomes popular in folk culture and occupy the leading position to make the image of the flower. In addition, people sometimes also decorate lilies, marigolds for the purpose of color coordination but still unify the meaning of Cung Dua festival. Slices of betel is an indispensable offering in wedding etiquette, ancestor worship of the ethnic groups in the Mekong Delta. These slices of betel are used for decorating the coconut flower vases. This decoration is cheap but nice and symbolic.

In each festival, An Trach village welcomes thousands of visitors from every part of the country to attend the ceremony. They come here for not only traveling but also thurify for the Buddha with the hope of peaceful and happy life. Guests from far away come to the festival at night won’t miss the festival as it takes place all day and night long. There are many cultural activities, performances, and games which are definitely exciting and interesting. Don’t worry if you are hungry during the night, every eateries and restaurant open 24/7 during the festival. As the variety of people from all part of the country join Cung Dua festival, this is a place for everyone to meet and makes friends. The festival only lasts three days, however, after three days, it’s is time to begin the last important ritual. It can be said that this last ritual is the essential part of the festival as its characteristic agriculture feature rooted from an ancient ceremony. Are you curious about it?

Every year, Thac Con Festival or Cung Dua festival attracts a large number of visitors. This is a cultural beauty that needs to be maintained, preserve and promote. Joining the Thac Con will be the best experiences that not everyone can have. If you are a culture lover, what are you waiting for? Let’s take your backpack and come there! Soc Trang is famous for Nga Nam floating market and this market is one of the most beautiful ones in the Mekong Delta that customers must visit during their holidays in Vietnam.