Rich activities at the 17th Khmer Culture, Sports and Tourism Festival in An Giang province

Great festival of Khmer people

The 17th Cultural, Sports and Tourism Festival of Khmer people in An Giang province in 2025 takes place from November 4 to 6, 2025 (September 15 to 17 of the lunar calendar), on the occasion of Ok Om Bok - the biggest festival of the year for Khmer people in the South.

The festival is held at the end of the harvest season to show gratitude to the Moon God for helping people protect crops, regulate the weather, help plants grow well and bring prosperity to the village.

Delegates attended the opening ceremony of the Khmer Culture, Sports and Tourism Festival in An Giang province.

According to Vice Chairman of Go Quao Commune People's Committee Nguyen Tan Phat, as the host of the festival, the locality has carefully prepared everything from facilities, venues for activities to ensuring security, order, traffic safety, fire prevention, fire fighting, hygiene, food safety, etc. to help people and tourists feel secure when coming to the festival.

Leaders of An Giang province and Go Quao commune presented souvenir flags to teams participating in the Ngo boat racing at the festival.

This year's festival attracted nearly 2,000 artisans, actors, and athletes from localities with a large Khmer population in the province, with many activities of the ceremonial and festival parts: Moon worshiping ceremony; trade fair and introduction of local products; display of images and artifacts of the Khmer people; exhibition, display, introduction of books; beautiful water-land rig contest; sports activities: Men's football tournament, volleyball tournament, An Giang province taekwondo club cup; Ngo boat racing, art performances and Khmer traditional art festival of An Giang province in 2025...

The festival's activities aim to promote the rich and unique culture of the Khmer people; promote artistic talents, create conditions to improve the quality of cultural, artistic, physical education and sports movements in areas with a large Khmer population in the province; meet the material and spiritual needs of the Khmer people in particular and the people in general.

The festival's activities are expected to attract about 200,000 - 250,000 people from inside and outside the province.

The dragon boat racing teams compete in the men's 800m event .

Exciting sports activities

The highlight of the festival is the Ngo boat race on Cai Lon River. This year, the race attracted more teams than previous years, with 3 events: 800m men (21 teams), 1,200m men (22 teams), 800m mixed men and women (12 teams).

Mr. Danh Nghia, resident of Vinh Hoa Hung commune, said: “We are very happy and excited when the local government organized the Khmer Culture, Sports and Tourism Festival on the occasion of Ok Om Bok. This year’s Ngo boat racing competition has more teams participating than in previous years. Every team is strong and competes with great determination.”

The dragon boat racing teams compete in the men's 800m event.

Crowds of people came to watch and cheer on the dragon boat racing teams.

After the opening ceremony, the Ngo boat race started in the men's 800m event, with the participation of 21 teams. With careful preparation and enthusiastic cheering from the audience on both sides of the Cai Lon River, the teams competed very attractively and enthusiastically from the group stage matches. After successively overcoming their opponents, the Ngo boat team of Lang Cat pagoda (Rach Gia ward) and the Ngo boat team of Cai Duoc Lon pagoda (Ngoc Chuc commune) won the right to compete in the final round of the men's 800m event.

As a result, the Lang Cat pagoda boat team won first prize; the Cai Duoc Lon pagoda boat team won second prize; and the Tong Quan pagoda boat team won third prize.

The organizing committee awarded prizes to the teams with excellent results in the men's 800m event.

Mr. Lam Oanh Cua, representative of the boat team of Lang Cat pagoda, Rach Gia ward, said: "To participate in the tournament, the team has been practicing very hard for more than 10 days. We are very happy to win first prize in the men's 800m event at this year's tournament, helping the team gain more confidence and determination to compete well in the men's 1,200m event tomorrow."

Rich cultural and artistic activities

Along with that, traditional cultural and artistic activities at the festival are vivid evidence of the diversity and richness in the life, beliefs and customs of the Khmer people. The 2025 Khmer Traditional Arts Festival in An Giang province attracted 333 artisans and actors from 26 Khmer traditional art teams from communes and wards in An Giang province.

A performance at the Khmer Traditional Arts Festival in An Giang province in 2025.

Participating in the festival, the teams competed in traditional Khmer art performances such as singing, dancing, performing pentatonic music, Cha Pay zither, Chhay-Dam drum, string music... with the theme of praising the Party, Uncle Ho; homeland, country; praising the tradition of solidarity and cohesion among the Vietnamese ethnic communities. In addition, the unique features of traditional costumes of the Khmer people in the South were introduced.

Traditional costume performance of Khmer people.

“Through the festival, we aim to preserve and promote the rich and unique culture of the Khmer people in the whole province. At the same time, we will discover and nurture artistic talents and better meet the needs of living and enjoying traditional culture and art of the Khmer people in An Giang province…”, said Deputy Director of the Department of Culture and Sports Nguyen Diep Mai.

Vice Chairman of An Giang Provincial People's Committee Le Trung Ho delivered the opening speech at the festival.

Vice Chairman of An Giang Provincial People's Committee Le Trung Ho, Head of the festival's organizing committee, said: The annual Khmer Cultural, Sports and Tourism Festival is a traditional cultural activity of practical significance, contributing to preserving, honoring and promoting traditional cultural identity, and taking care of the spiritual life of the Khmer people in the province.

At the same time, promote the movement of the whole people uniting to build a cultural life; the emulation movement "The whole country joins hands to build new rural areas" and respond well to the campaign "The whole people exercise following the example of great Uncle Ho"... Thereby, contributing practically to the implementation of Resolution No. 33-NQ/TW, dated June 9, 2014 of the 11th Party Central Committee on building and developing Vietnamese culture and people to meet the requirements of sustainable development of the country...

“The festival activities aim to promote and introduce the cultural values of the Khmer people in the province to people across the country, so that people of all ethnic groups have the opportunity to meet, exchange, participate in cultural, artistic and sports activities, create solidarity and cohesion among ethnic groups, and promote socio-economic development,” Vice Chairman of An Giang Provincial People's Committee Le Trung Ho emphasized.

TRUNG HIEU - DUY ANH

Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/phong-phu-hoat-dong-tai-ngay-hoi-van-hoa-the-thao-va-du-lich-dong-bao-khmer-tinh-an-giang-lan-thu-x-a466207.html