Part of Buddha bathing ceremony (Source:Internet) HCM City (VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City on April 13 hosted a festival featuring customs and rituals of Cambodian, Lao, Myanmar and Thai people during their traditional New Year celebrations.
The festival brought together diplomats and people from the four ASEAN countries who are living in the city.
It recreated Cambodia’s Chol Chnam Thmay, Laos’ Boun Pi Mai, Myanmar’s Thingyan and Thailand’s Songkran with customs like Buddha bathing, water splashing, and tying threads around people’s wrists, alongside a series of cultural performances in a bid to make the expatriates feel like home in the holidays.
Speaking at the event, President of the Ho Chi Minh City Union of Friendship Organisations Le Hung Quoc congratulated Cambodian, Lao, Myanmar and Thai people on their traditional New Year.
The festival is held annually to enhance cultural exchange and mutual understanding between Vietnam and its four neighbours in the region, he said.
Lao Consul General Somxay Sanam-Oune thanked the city for holding the event, contributing to tightening the friendship between countries in the ASEAN Community.-VNA
