Charlie Dittmeier's Home Page
Three more days to Lunar New Year’s Eve! More and more signs of the new year are appearing throughout Phnom Penh. Chrysanthemums are one of the most popular flowers for this festival because of their gold color associated with wealth.
Here one of the staff at an office arranges some chrysanthemums and other flowers outside the office door.
Further down the street, more chr ysanthemums are set outside the door of a private house.
November 18, 19, 20 were the annual Water Festival holidays. This year, though, because of Covid-19, the boat races on the Tonle Sap River were canceled so the migration of two or three million people to Phnom Penh didn’t happen.
There are always aspects of Cambodia culture that we foreigners will never understand or fully appreciate. For me one of those is the association of the flower decorations pictured in the photographs with the Water Festival. They are of a Khmer style but their meaning, the origin of the design, how they are used is a mystery to me
Today is the first day of the three-day holiday for Pchum Ben, the Khmer equivalent of All Souls Day. Hundreds of thousands of Phnom Penh residents left the city to return to their home villages for scaled-down ceremonies honoring their ancestors. Most shops are closed. But for the people remaining in Phnom Penh—you still need bread!
And bananas!
Hundreds of monks are out on the streets every morning to beg alms for themselves and for the poor people they serve. Click here to see their encounters with the devout Buddhists.
Monks are a large and prominent part of Cambodian culture. There are many, many wats throughout the country, and there are thousands of monks. There are men who are monks for one week; there are men who are monks for many decades. There are monks who are educated; there are monks who have little school learning. There are elderly monks; there are young boys who are studying to become monks.
Here are some pictures of young boys who are part of the monk society. They live in the wats (pagodas) and go with the monks as they make their rounds begging each day. In this era of concern about the sexual abuse of children, the presence of the young boys living with the adult monks seems strange. There is very little abuse mentioned but it may be that the culture covers it up and does not talk about it if it happens.
There is a custom in Cambodia of throwing hard candy into the street in front of some shops. Click here to see some examples.
Most monks stay close to their home wat and just walk their appointed routes when begging in the morning, but they can use wheels when necessary. Click here for modes of monk travel.
