The Kate Festival celebration of the ethnic Cham people will take place at Po Sah Inu Tower in Binh Thuan Province's Phan Thiet City on October 15-16 with a series of traditional rituals and festivities. The festival, which aims to preserve traditional culture of the Cham and to promote Binh Thuan's tourism sector, will include a procession of palanquins and costumes of the Po Sah Inu Goddess, a ceremony to open the tower gate, the washing of the altar for linga, and a yoni ceremony. It will also feature traditional music performances, goods fair, brocade-weaving contests, pottery, cake-baking and folk games. A contest on making and arranging offerings for the Goddess of the Cham people and a fashion show of the Cham' s traditional dress will also be featured. Tourists will be instructed on how to play musical instruments like the Ginang and Baranung drums and the Saranai horn, and will enjoy folk-music performances by Cham artists from Ma Lam Town and the districts of Ham Phu and Ham Tri. (Vietnam news Oct 12)
