Soc Trang (VNA) – A jubilant atmosphere covers the whole Mekong Delta province of Soc Trang as nearly 400,000 local Khmer ethnic people celebrate their traditional New Year Festival Chol Chnam Thmay.

The Chol Chnam Thmay Festival, which begins after the year’s first harvest, fell on April 13-15 this year.

The celebration featured many cultural programmes, including performance of traditional dances and musical instruments.

This year’s festival became more excited since the local Khmer people have enjoyed a bumper harvest, according to Lam Ren, Head of the provincial Department for Ethnic Groups.

The provincial authorities also visited and presented gifts worth more than 1.5 billion VND to the local Khmer people on this occasion.

In the Mekong Delta province of An Giang province, nearly 90,000 Khmer ethnic people also welcomed this year’s Chol Chnam Thmay Festival in happiness after gaining an abundant crop.