Performances in My Son Sanctuary Show

Offering Holy Water to Temple (Dancing)

The first performance in the My Son Sanctuary show is ‘offering the holy water to the temple’. In which, a group of Cham girls who wear a beautiful traditional costume, will carry a pot of holy freshwater to the temple. In festivals or ceremonies of their ethnicity (for example, Kate festival), the water is one of the most important offspring. It will be used to wash the statue of the god (popularly Shiva god) or the king before the main festival day takes place. In history, Cham kings used the water from Khe The stream in My Son’s valley, in their ceremonies to honor Shiva god at temples.

Saranai Flute Performance

In the second performance, a Cham male artist will perform his skills in blowing Saranai flute. It’s one of traditional double-reed wind instruments in his ethnicity’s culture. He wears a sarong, Cham long dress for men and a tanrak on his head, Cham’s turban for men. Behind thim, there is a group of young Cham boys who play Ginang drums. From the beginning to the end of the performance, their music is perfectly blended, just like how they play in festivals or ceremonies at temples. The audience keeps saying wow and can’t take their eyes off the stage. This is a great chance for visitors to know how Cham people celebrate their important occasions.

More information about Saranai flute: This flute is one of the essential musical instruments in traditional Cham festivals and ceremonies, and represents lips; Artists often blow it to start a performance/show; It takes them years to practice and their practices will occur at a place far from the village because people believe that sound of the flute attracts the ghost; To make Saranai flute, an ivory or buffalo horn would be used in the past, but now, fine tamarin wood replaces them;

More information about the Ginang drum: it’s a 70cm-long cyder shaped percussion instrument, made of ironwood, and is an own creativity of Cham people living in Ninh Thuan province. Cham men will play it by hand or a stick during traditional festivals and events, and often accompany singgings. In the belief of ethnicity, the Ginang drum, Paranung drum, and Saranai flute represent heaven, earth, and humans. These instruments always appear together.

Apsara Dance

‘Apsara’ is the beautiful female celestial singer and dancer in Indian mythology. This fairy lady was carved on the stone, to decorate temples at My Son. Apsara dancers symbolize values of grace, beauty, and spirituality;

Visitors will watch the dancing from Apsara ladies in the last performance of the My Son Sanctuary show. In the beginning, they hide in the long cloth, making the audience want to know who they are and what they are going to do. After spinning some times, they appear and perform such flexible and skillful movements. They give us posings that look just like the carvings at the temple. Sure, the viewers can’t stop looking at them, and clapping their hands.

The Apsara dance is also seen in the show at Hoi An Traditional Art Performance House daily (included by ‘Hoi An Old Town ticket’).