Sene Dolta is one of the largest annual festival of ethnic Khmers in the southern region, along with Chol Chnam Thmay (New Year) and Ok Oom Bok (long boat race).
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Local people making cake for the event |
Also called Phchum Banh, Sene Dolta means family gathering and virtue. It is held from the last day of the eighth lunar month to the second day of the ninth lunar month each year.
During the festival, the Khmer people express their gratitude to ancestors, parents and relatives, and pray for good luck. A wide range of religious rituals and several cultural activities take place at Khmer pagodas.
Tra Vinh province has a population of 1 million people, 32 percent of whom are ethnic Khmers. Most of the people live in rural areas and rely much on agricultural production. In the past years, local authorities have carried out a myriad of policies and programmes in support for the ethnic group to improve their material and spiritual lives.
According to Ha Thanh Son, deputy head of the provincial committee for ethnic minority affairs, hundreds of VND has been disbursed to develop infrastructure for poor districts and areas resided by ethnic minority group, as well as help the locals to develop production.
As of the end of 2018, Tra Vinh province had over 16,400 poor households, declining 2.46 percent from 2017, with the number of impoverished Khmer families falling 4.43 percent. To date, more than 93 percent of the Khmer people get access to clean water while over 97 percent are enabled to use safe electricity.
The province has eight boarding schools, helping facilitate the study of ethnic children, he added.
Source: VNA