PHNOM PENH, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- Even days ahead of the Christmas, souvenir shops across Phnom Penh have been crowded with Cambodian teenagers seeking gifts for their friends and beloved ones.
The Christmas Day is not part of Cambodia's religious festivities. However, it has been informally observed here since the early 1990s.
Year after year, the event has gained more and more popularity, especially among teenagers and students.
"In fact, I am a Buddhist, but I like to celebrate the Christmas because it is the special time we meet friends and exchange gifts in a friendly atmosphere," Ngoun Setha, a student at the University of Cambodia, said Sunday.
"It's also the occasion I can express my affection to my special one and have a special meal together," he said while buying a gift at a shop near Phnom Penh's Orussei Market.
Another university student Sok Chhay, 22, said "I come to buy a gift for my girlfriend on the occasion of the Christmas Day and I hope that she will like it."
The Christmas season has also become a key sales period for retailers and businesses in this impoverished Southeast Asian nation.
To attract customers, shops ranging from eateries, souvenirs, clothing to electronic devices have displayed the images of Santa Claus and Christmas trees with colored decorative lights and greeting words "Merry Christmas", "Big Sale Discounts," or "Prize Offers."
"We know it is the Jesus day, but we, vendors, just want to attract as many as customers we can as we learn that young Cambodians are enthusiastic over the event," said Srey Nyda, an assistant at the Nana clothing shop on Phnom Penh's Kampuchea Krom Boulevard.
She said the Christmas season is the best time for sales in one year. "The sale volume during the occasion is about five times bigger than usual days," she said.
"During the Christmas season, sales are very good, from early mornings to late at nights, customers, mostly young people, come and buy gifts for their beloved friends or partners," said Duch Sivon, the owner of a souvenir shop near Phnom Penh's Orussei Market.
Also, on the occasion, most of English schools in the country have organized parties for their students with Christmas music and caroling, and gift and Christmas card exchanges.
Dr. Ros Chantrabuth, advisor to the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said that it was the individual freedom of holding or celebrating religious creed. But he also warned that extreme enthusiasm over other religion is the destruction to the national identification.
"Some Cambodian business people, private schools and media broadcasting operators, for their own interests, have been destroying Cambodia's tradition, custom and culture through promoting the event -- Christmas Day -- to the public, especially among the youth," he said.
Buddhism is Cambodia's state religion. More than 90 percent of the people are Buddhist followers. However, because of the globalization, Cambodian young are vulnerable to foreign cultures.
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