The Bay Nui (Seven Mountains) Ox Racing Festival in An Giang is held annually on the Sene Donta (ancestor worship ceremony) of the Southern Khmer, taking place at the end of August and the beginning of September of the lunar calendar.
This is one of the major traditional festivals of the Khmer people of An Giang province and of the Southwest region as a whole. This festival pays tribute and gratitude to the ancestors and their merits.
For the folks of the Bay Nui region, ox racing has its own significant meaning. The winning ox pair brings pride not only to their owners, but the entire hamlet also. They bring joy and determination for many people to continue striving for other achievements in life.
During the planting season every year, Khmer farmers bring their oxen to plow the fields of the Khmer temples as charity work. After the charity work, the farmers host a plowing competition for the oxen, to find out which of them are fast and strong.
The monks are assigned referees for this competition and announce the reward for the winners: a traditional rattle named “Ca tha” for the oxen! The annual traditional ox racing festival of the Khmer ethnic people in An Giang province attracts thousands of tourists throughout the country to Tri Ton to watch the race and enjoy the beauty of the mysterious Tri Ton land./,
