BATTAMBANG: Battambang has announced it will hold a Water Festival and float lanterns along the Sangkae River in Battambang City for two days on October 28 and 29.

The Battambang Provincial Administration will organize traditional boat races, international boats, gourd boats, and flower boats during the day. While at night, there will be floating lanterns and fireworks to celebrate the rainy season and preserve cherished national and regional traditions.

Battambang has called on locals, international and domestic tourists to join in the fun and celebrate the rainy season together.

the Royal Government has announced that it will organize more water festivals to make up for festivities lost during Covid and the ASEAN Summit last year. While the festivities were completely called off in Phnom Penh to mitigate the influx of foreign visitors, many provinces still held celebrations.

Cambodia traditionally celebrates the Water Festival with floating lanterns, chanting and worshiping the moon every year during the 12th month of the Cambodian lunar calendar, which generally corresponds to mid-October to mid-November.

This festival is usually held on the Chaktomuk River, where the Mekong, Bassac and Tonle Sap rivers converge and form a riverine crossroads.

One of the main attractions for the festival are traditional dragon boat races, where people come from all over to watch hundreds of teams represent their cities and provinces to compete for glory and to commemorate the bravery of their ancestors who defended the motherland.