Cambodian New Year - Day #1

So Cambodia celebrates their New Year for three days, based on the lunar calendar. This year is was April 14 - 16th. Actually the holiday seems to stretch out for more like 1 - 2 weeks, many people take the week before off for vacation and the entire week of the New Year as well. A large percentage of people travel back to the village or province where their families are from. I am told Phnom Penh gets quiet as maybe a third of the population heads to the countryside. I was told there are all kinds of celebrations, fireworks, traditional dances, and BBQs all over the place. I didn't know what to expect but I was willing to check anything out.





 At 4am on Monday the 14th - the loudspeaker from the local pagoda started blaring pre-recorded prayers and chants. This was particularly early - even for Sen Monorom. Whenever there is a wedding or funeral loud music and prayers can be heard but they usually wait until at least 5am! Obviously there is no noise ordinances here. I woke up and got ready, grabbed my camera and went to eat breakfast at my favorite stall in the market. The woman who works there speaks almost no English but she knows I like the chicken noodle soup (a common breakfast dish - I'm not sure it's always chicken but that's what I tell myself ). So I eat there once or twices per week. After I eat I walk over to the pagoda which is about 15 minutes away.




 I arrive there around 730am and don't know what to expect. I have been to the pagoda (the Buddhist temple/church) a few times before but never inside. It's a large compound where about 15 monks live. There are also several children who live there - many are developmentally challenged and the monks take care of them. There are also a collection of women, maybe 15 who also seem to live there. In addition to the pagoda, there is a large graveyard with stupas (like a mausoleum where families put the ashes of the deceased), a small school, and the living quarters. I wander around the property for about half an hour and notice a constant parade of people pulling up on motos to the main pagoda building and going inside. I decide to join them.




 Inside it is a huge open room with many statues of Buddha on the right side - setup as a large shrine. To the left are some of the older women who are doing some ceremony with sand which I can't understand. Along the back wall are the monks on a small platform about a foot high, each sitting Indian style (or in the lotus position - both feet resting on the opposite thigh). The local people who have come to the pagoda are sitting in front of the monks on mats on the floor. Most of these monks looks young, under 30 or so - but that is pretty much the age of everyone in Cambodia! The monk on the right speaks into a microphone while the rest of the monks chant along with him. About once every minute he dips a brush into a little bucket of water and then flings the water onto the crowd. I will be told by Lakeana later that people think the water brings luck and erases bad karma. After about half an hour of this the monk at the microphone changes places and another monk starts a different chant. People scramble to bring containers of food and place it in front of this new monk. Seems he will say some blessings over the food and then the food is brought to the other end of the room where some women divvy it up into bowls. The monks depend on alms or handouts to eat - if people don't give them food they will not eat that day. This being a special day - they seem to have enough food to feed an army!




 I have probably been in the pagoda for over an hour and many of the older women sitting in front of me keep motioning for me to come closer. I finally do and they nod and bow to me. I really didn't want some guy in orange robes to be flinging water onto me but what the heck. At the Buddha altar people are lighting incense and saying prayers. A little girl who appears to have Down Syndrome finds me and sits next to me for much of my time there. She seems fascinated when I take a few photos and video of the monks. She also insists I take a picture of her.





 After a while I head outside to see what is happening. Many people are in their best clothes - like our Christmas or Easter. The parade of people going to the pagoda doesn't end. There are a few vendors selling snacks, balloons, and bottle rockets for the kids to shoot off. There is also a large shrine to Buddha with piles of sand and what looks like white paper dolls staked into the sand. Again Lakeana will tell me later that they represent ancestors of people.



 By about 11am I head back to my guesthouse and have lunch with Lakeana and she fills me in on all my questions from the pagoda. Around 1pm I decide to explore the neighborhoods on the far side of the airstrip. I walk for a few hours down little streets (dirt roads really), and take lots of photos of daily life. I find a nice wood carving shop that has all kinds of things for sale - some very large and heavy and other things that would fit in a backpack. Seems the old guy and his family do all the carving themselves. A small carving of an animal or person (maybe 8-10 inches high) cost $25 - don't know how much the items that are 3 - 4 feet must cost. They have lots of animal heads - like a deer head people would mount over the fireplace at home - but these are made of wood and look very cool.




 After several hours of wandering I head back home. It has been a decent day and tomorrow I think I will try to walk to the Sen Monorom waterfall.