ANCESTOR WORSHIP BELIEFS OF THE KHMER PEOPLE IN TRA VINH – TRADITIONAL AND CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES

Abstract

The ancestor worship beliefs of the Khmer people in Tra Vinh province serve as a core social-ethical institution, reflecting a unique syncretism between an indigenous consanguineous outlook and the institutional worldview of Theravada Buddhism. Utilizing interdisciplinary anthropological methodologies—specifically ethnographic fieldwork and comparative documentary analysis—this article systematizes the traditional sacred hierarchy and key ritual practices, including funerals and the Sen Dolta festival, while identifying the profound transformations of these beliefs in contemporary society. Examined through the analytical lenses of structural-functionalism and acculturation theory, the study demonstrates that domestic worship spaces, the frequency of ritual execution, and funerary practices (such as the shift from cremation to inhumation) are undergoing significant simplification and adaptation. These contemporary modifications emerge as inevitable responses to the pressures of urbanization, evolving architectural designs, time-economic constraints, and local state environmental regulations. The article concludes that these contemporary transformations do not destabilize the core values of filial piety; rather, they manifest a flexible mechanism of cultural adaptation. This dynamism allows the Khmer people to negotiate and preserve their ethnic identity within a resilient, multi-ethnic cohabitation landscape.