The southern province of Soc Trang is filled with a festive atmosphereas local Khmer people celebrate their traditional New Year Chol ChnamThmay from April 14-16.

With more than 400,000Khmer people, or 30.71 percent of the province’s population, Soc Tranghas the largest Khmer community in the nation, all of whom are busydecorating their houses and preparing traditional dishes to worshiptheir ancestors and feed their guests.

During thefestival, Khmer people often gather at pagodas, practice traditionalcustoms such as gathering up sand to form a small mountain, and pray fora New Year of peace, favourable weather and prosperity.

One of the most important practices in Chol Chnam Thmay is the Buddhabathing ceremony. Khmer people also bathe to pray for forgiveness formistakes made in the previous year.

Various traditional activities such as games, dances and singing are also held during the festival.

In a bid to facilitate a warm local Khmer community festival, theprovince has sent 25 delegations to visit and present New Year gifts.

This year, thanks to joint efforts of the Governmentand locals, Khmer people are welcoming their New Year festival inimproved economic conditions, said Nguyen Trung Hieu, Chairman of theprovincial People’s Committee.

Lam Hong from VienBinh commune in Tran De district, where 60 percent of the community isKhmer, said applying large-scale rice fields helped his family earn 30million VND (1,390 USD) in profit per hectare. Hong, who owns 15hectares of rice fields, said mechanised farming has helped his familycut costs considerably in harvest and transport.

SocTrang has also invested in education, building eight new primaryschools and one high school to Khmer students. Khmer people are alsoengaging in strengthened local administration. Currently, 13.3 percentof the total 4,554 Party members in Soc Trang are Khmer people, whilenearly 5,000 Khmer people are serving as public servants.-VNA