The Khmer ethnic community in the southern province of Soc Trang thesedays are jubilantly celebrating their traditional Ooc Om Bok festival,which worships the Moon deity for bumper crops.
The Head of the province’s Committee for Ethnic Affairs, Duong Sa Kha,said adding to the festive atmosphere is the joy from the bumper cropsthe local people have just harvested.
In addition, hundreds ofpoor Khmer households who have been given land for housing and farmingbefore the festive season approached.
The Ooc Om Bok festival,one of the three biggest annual festivals of the Khmer group, iscelebrated in the middle of the tenth lunar month, this year falling onNov. 19-21.
Besides a tourism and trade exhibition and fair,lasting from Nov. 12-21, a music performance contest and Khmertraditional costume show with more than 300 amateur artistsparticipating from Nov. 17-20, the organisers also restored the LoyProtip (floating lights on the water) festival. Eight big lights made invarious shapes such as Khmer pagodas, Buddha statues and flowers madeby teams of districts and towns were floated on a 500m section of theNguyet Giang (Moon) river for competition.
The peak of thefestival days is the Ngo boat race festival, which attracts dozens ofthousands of people from every corner nationwide and also foreigners. OnNov. 20-21, more than 2,000 rowers on 34 Ngo boats for men and 7 Ngoboats for women competed with hope to “bring water” to their hamlets.
Inpreparation for the race, many Ngo boats, each costs hundreds ofmillions of Vietnamese dongs, were made. A new race course with a4,000-seat stand was built with an investment capital of 60 billion VNDfrom the province’s budget./.
The Head of the province’s Committee for Ethnic Affairs, Duong Sa Kha,said adding to the festive atmosphere is the joy from the bumper cropsthe local people have just harvested.
In addition, hundreds ofpoor Khmer households who have been given land for housing and farmingbefore the festive season approached.
The Ooc Om Bok festival,one of the three biggest annual festivals of the Khmer group, iscelebrated in the middle of the tenth lunar month, this year falling onNov. 19-21.
Besides a tourism and trade exhibition and fair,lasting from Nov. 12-21, a music performance contest and Khmertraditional costume show with more than 300 amateur artistsparticipating from Nov. 17-20, the organisers also restored the LoyProtip (floating lights on the water) festival. Eight big lights made invarious shapes such as Khmer pagodas, Buddha statues and flowers madeby teams of districts and towns were floated on a 500m section of theNguyet Giang (Moon) river for competition.
The peak of thefestival days is the Ngo boat race festival, which attracts dozens ofthousands of people from every corner nationwide and also foreigners. OnNov. 20-21, more than 2,000 rowers on 34 Ngo boats for men and 7 Ngoboats for women competed with hope to “bring water” to their hamlets.
Inpreparation for the race, many Ngo boats, each costs hundreds ofmillions of Vietnamese dongs, were made. A new race course with a4,000-seat stand was built with an investment capital of 60 billion VNDfrom the province’s budget./.
