Cultural festival promotes tourism, agriculture in Xayaboury

 

The traditional event will run from January 9 to 12 in Somsavanh village to preserve the culture and traditions of their ancestors, honour the gift of rice and promote farming for commercial purposes in line with government policy.

Phieng district Deputy Governor  Seangaphone Keobouahom said this week the organising committees have encouraged each family within the district to bring five kgs of paddy rice and two kgs of milled rice to donate to the temple.

 

The district has 1,300 families. Last year almost 90 percent of all families donated rice to the festival. After the festival ends, the rice is sold with the proceeds going into a fund to develop or restore temples.

 

Many activities are planned for the festival goers. There are religious ceremonies, a paddy and milled rice procession, congratulatory ceremonies for outstanding farmers and e ntrepreneurs, celebrations for cultural and development villages, a beauty pageant, a singing contest, concert, sports, trade fairs, elephant riding to visit tourism sites, a big pile of rice and mass processions.

 

 Seangaphone said that this year the district authorities has invited acrobats from the National Circus in Vientiane to entertain the visitors.

 

Elephant rides will be part of the festivities with charges of 20,000 kip per person just to sit on the elephant and have photos taken, 50,000 kip to ride around the festival grounds and 60-80,000 kip for an elephant ride to the Vat Pa temple and a tour round the Namtaan reservoir.

 

An elephant ride to the Tad Nampang waterfall will cost 100,000 kip per person as it's 3km away and 125,000 kip per person to tour Dongkhamhiew and Kokkhamtear areas which are 4km away. Services begin during the festival.

 

 Seangaphone said that the festival is organised to celebrate a successful harvest in the area.

 

The district authorities have up graded the festival from being a village event to a district one. This is because they want to make the festival bigger and promote food production in the district in accordance with provincial policy by identifying Phieng district as a major source of rice, vegetables and livestock due to it having more large areas of flat land than the other districts in the province.

 

Pieng district is one of 11 in the province. It has plenty of natural resources and the local people are very active in farming. It has unique traditions and most people grow rice and other crops as their main job. So, after gathering in the harvest the people will organise a Boun Kong Khao festival.

 

The district has been organising the festival for a number of years to promote the culture and lifestyle of local people, and to boost tourism and farming output.

 

The district authorities have determined that either the 8th or 15th day of the waxing moon in January on the Buddhist calendar should be the day for organising a big Boun Kong Khao Festival.

 

Boun Kong Khao is the second festival of the hidsipsong - the series of 12 traditional Lao festivals which occur in each month of the year.