A number of traditional festivals occur after Awk Phansa in the Lao PDR, starting with the Boat Race Festival in late October and ending with the Lao New Year in early April. These occasions are celebrated by feasting, dancing, games and other fun. During the Boat Race Festival, thousands of spectators line the banks of the Mekong River to cheer on teams from different villages and city districts. Both men's and women's teams row long boats in a series of heats culminating in a final race. Before each race, long lines of dancing, joking villagers escort the rowers to their crafts.
Some dancers paint their faces and carry phallic carvings.
Such festivals provide an opportunity for mass communication as town populations swell with villagers from outlying areas, visitors from other provinces and tourists from other countries. Different activities were planned for each of the project sites, but in all sites the focus of the activities was, naturally, the Mekong River. Targeted Distribution In Vientiane, a fair is held along the river bank every night during the Boat Race Festival, with bands performing at open-air dance floors. It would have been possible to hand out condoms to fairgoers or to the crowds watching the races, but a limited supply of condoms was available. In some cases, male CARE staff members stood by the display to explain why the condoms were there and how to use them.