TEAMWORK: A traditional Khmer long boat race will be featured at the eighth Southern Khmer Festival of Culture, Sports and Tourism to be held in the Mekong Delta province of Sóc Trăng in November. VNA/VNS Photo Trung Hiếu

SÓC TRĂNG — The Mekong Delta province of Sóc Trăng will host the eighth Southern Khmer Festival of Culture, Sports and Tourism in November.

The festival is co-organised by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Sóc Trăng Province People’s Committee.

According to Nguyễn Thị Hải Nhung, director of the ministry’s Department of Ethnic Culture, the festival aims to honour cultural values and preserve and promote the cultural traits of the ethnic Khmer people in the South, as well as foster solidarity, the arts and cultural exchanges among various ethnic groups in Việt Nam.

The event will feature many cultural activities including an exhibition on the traditions and culture of the Khmer communities, and performances of pinpeat orchestras, the Khmer traditional musical ensembles consisting of nine instruments, mainly wind and percussion.

There will be costume shows and traditional music and dance performances featuring artists, musicians, performers and many Khmer groups from Cần Thơ and HCM City, and the provinces of Tây Ninh, Bình Phước, Vĩnh Long, Trà Vinh, An Giang, Hậu Giang, Kiên Giang, Sóc Trăng, Bạc Liêu, and Cà Mau.

The festival will organise a food festival to introduce signature dishes of the Khmer in the South.

It will also launch tours to historic heritage sites and beautiful landscapes in order to present the province’s tourism potential.

Several sports competitions including a traditional Khmer long boat race, tug of war, football and volleyball will also be part of the festival.

Every three years, the event features the sports, culture and tourism traditions of the Khmer communities and offers visitors an opportunity to take part in various activities.

Huỳnh Thị Diễm Ngọc, vice chairman of the province’s People’s Committee, said during the festival, Sóc Trăng would organise the Ok Om Bok festival, also called the Festival of Worshipping the Moon.

The ritual takes place under the full moon in the 10th lunar month annually when the season changes from the rainy to the dry, and from the growing season to the harvest season.

The seventh festival was held in Bạc Liêu Province in 2017 and then was temporarily postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The eighth event, which will take place from November 6-8, is expected to attract around 10,000 visitors. — VNS