Wild oxen dancing is a Khmer culture inheritance dating from the prehistoric era, still practiced by the people who live in Angchanh Roung, Kompong Chhnang today.This dancing is a form of prayer for peace and tranquility addressed particularly to the dryads or spirits of the forest.The ritual foods ceremony are traditional cakes, bananas, wine, and rice put in plates or glasses and shoots of trees or betel.After laying down all these things on the mat, the residents begin to play traditional music to invite their ancestral spirits of the forest to come and accept all the foods they offer.Then they start to perform the wild ox dancing. The lyrics of the wild ox dancing are Kla krap, Lbukkato and Sranghe pen and Tansong Koprey.We notice that those songs seem very melancholic, driving us to the holy world due to the great talent of the singers. When we listen to that song, we feel that they seem to be emanating from witches or dryads.Similarly, the actors represent to the male oxen and the actresses represent the female animal, wearing horns as the real ones.If we watch their performances closely, we will see how professional and talented their dancing is. Their performances mimic the real behaviour of wild oxen. Once we see the dancing of Khmer hill tribes such as the Kouy and Souy, we will find out that we are now in a hunting society. All this testifies of the perdurance of the Khmer culture since the ancient times.Another remarkable evidence of the authenticity of this dancing is that they do not need to change clothes during the performance because they are residents living of the mountains and forests, remote places rarely visited by tourists.The music performed with the pei,the skor and the pouy, kinds of ken is meant as an offering to the tutelary gods and dryads.Remarkably, those kinds of instrument are used in the ritual collecting of cardamom by Samre people in the province of Pursat .For the wild oxen dancing, there are 10 dancers, two men being the singers, and eight female dancers holding the musical instruments within one ox performer and two dancers dancing closely around the animal.Furthermore, those dancers are of middle age, and experienced in hunting or living in the forest, as well as in tradition, thus they can perform professionally.By watching this wild oxen dance, we can have an idea of the ancientness of this custom. . The rythm of this dancing is a slow one and the two hands of the dancers are not level with each other, moving up and down to the waist imitating the movements of the wild ox and making them look magical.Another characteristic of this dancing is the synchronization of the gestures of the hands,legs and the bodies , imitating the movements of the animals.The profound symbolical and accurate meaning of this dancing is the regeneration of the human species. The oxen dancing is a sacred ritual that Khmer people held regularly before hunting in the forest. Failure or sccess depend on the good or bad performance in dancing. This dancing is a sacrifice to the ancestry spirit of the ancestors intended to make hunting successful..Moreover, both dancers also embody the souls of the ancestors and of the oxen by their movements.The Khmer loeu saw this movement of the animals as an embodiment of their ancestors. The ancestors are the animals, and the animals are the ancestors.In brief, the wild oxen dancing is the ultimate treasure of the Khmer culture. It reflects the relationship between humans and animals and the environment of Khmer hill tribes that live from hunting.This dancing is of genuine Khmer-Mon origin, and a branch of Khmer tradition. Abandoning this ritual would impoverish the Khmer culture. (M.Tranet).

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