Every year, on the fifteenth of the nineth month of Khmer lunar calendar, Khmer people in hamlets gather to organize the traditional Lôi Protip festival.
Lôi Protip festival is a kind of cultural Buddhist festival of Southern Khmer people. This festival originates from a legendary Buddhist worship of Buddha Shakyamuni's teeth believed to be kept by snake god Nagar in aquarium.
Annual Lôi Protip festival is also held to thank the Earth Spirit (Preah Thorani) and the Water Spirit (Preah Kungkea), as the Khmer community believed that people pollute the nature everyday so they should organize a repentant ritual yearly.
Through the Lôi Protip festival, Khmer people show gratitute to the divine nature for blessing human beings and pray for good things in the future.
Lôi Protip festival is attached to Khmer people’s spiritual life
Release flower lights on Maspero river - Soc Trang province
Today, Lôi Protip festival is not only a religious festival but also a popular cultural event of local Khmer communities.
Source Giác Ngộ newspaper
