Khmer monks and people celebrate Chol Chnam Thmay - Illustrative image (Source: VNA)An Giang (VNA) – A lot of activities are taking place across southernprovinces to celebrate the Khmer ethnic group’s Chol Chnam Thmay (New Year)festival, which falls on April 14-16.
In An Giang province, Secretary of the provincial PartyCommittee Vo Thi Anh Xuan led a delegation to visit and present gifts to Khmermonks and people in Tri Ton district on April 10.
She wished Khmer monks and people a warm, cheerful and happyNew Year festival.
Visiting Krang Kroch pagoda in Chau Lang commune and Sa Lonpagoda in Luong Phi commune, Xuan expressed her hope that the pagodas continueencouraging Khmer ethnics to, together with local authorities and people,develop the locality further.
Chau Anne, deputy head of the provincial Committee on EthnicAffairs, said that An Giang is home to 86,590 Khmer ethnics living mostly inTri Ton and Tinh Bien districts, accounting for 3.9 percent of the province’spopulation.
Meanwhile, Bac Lieu province held a get-together on thisoccasion, during which Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee VuongPhuong Nam said that programmes, projects and policies targeting the ethnicminority community have proved effective in the province, with the livingconditions of the community, including Khmer ethnics, improved and the povertyrate down over the years.
The province is targeting a reduction of 3-4 percent in thepoverty rate a year.
A similar gathering was organised in Bac Lieu’s neighbouringprovince of Soc Trang province, which is home to over 400,000 Khmer ethnics,accounting for more than 30 percent of the province’s population.
Vice Secretary of the provincial Party Committee Huynh VanSum asked local authorities to pay more attention to poverty reduction in the Khmercommunity, improve infrastructure in Khmer-inhabited communes, and increase thequality of vocational training in line with job generation.
On the day, Tra Vinh province also held a gathering for morethan 350 Khmer officials, monks and prestigious people in the Khmer ethniccommunity in the province.
Chol Chnam Thmay is one of the most important festivals forKhmer people in Cambodia. It usually lasts three days from April 14-16 and iscelebrated mostly in pagodas. The festival is a demonstration of Khmer people’saspirations, like many other ethnic groups, to move on from the previous year’smisfortunes and look forward to a promising new year.-VNA
VNA
