The Ramuwan Festival of the Cham People

Ramuwan is the important fasting month observed by the Cham Bani community, centered on four key rites: tending ancestral graves, offering meals to ancestors, ritual purification, and a month of fasting at the mosque (Sang Magik).

At the start of Ramuwan, families visit their ancestral cemeteries together, clearing weeds and reshaping the sand mounds over each grave. Po Acar dignitaries and young men who study the Quran pour sanctified water over the graves and recite prayers inviting the ancestors to visit their descendants.

In every household, a temporary altar is set up for the first few days of the fasting month to welcome the ancestors home to rest. Offerings include a vegetarian tray (sweet soup, sticky rice, bananas, banh tet, and sakaya cakes) and a meat tray (rice, soup, boiled chicken), presented to each ancestor in turn according to the recited prayers — a practice that reflects the Bani community's deep reverence for their forebears.

Before the fasting month begins, worshippers undergo a purification rite to wash away the impurities of the past year: water mixed with fine sand is used to wash the face three times, performed in order from the eldest to the youngest, before entering the mosque.

Throughout Ramuwan, dignitaries fast and pray each evening on behalf of the whole village, while all worshippers are expected to keep their words and actions righteous. More than a religious observance, Ramuwan is an occasion for moral instruction and communal bonding among the Cham Bani.