Category: Culture

1st Day of New Year

Today was the first day of the lunar new year, and this was a scene repeated all across Phnom Penh where traditional new year flower arrangements decorated the entranceways of businesses closed for the holiday–even though it’s NOT a holiday in Cambodia!
And across the street from the Home Access business in the first picture, the manager of a nursery ponders what to do with the unsold chrysanthemums in her establishment.

Lunar New Year

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.

Lunar New Year 2022

Lunar New Year’s Eve is January 31st and Cambodia is getting ready! Cambodia is not a Chinese country but a lot of Cambodians have Chinese ancestry and very definitely celebrate the Chinese New Year even though it is not a public holiday here. Now that the new year is less than a week away, more and more decorations are going up.

Water Festival

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

These specialized designs were widely available in the markets and from street vendors.
And people bought them, maybe adding a bit of holiday cheer to a major Cambodian festival that suffered in its celebration in a pandemic year.

Pchum Ben in a pandemic

Pchum Ben is a fifteen-day religious celebration, the Khmer equivalent of All Souls Day for Christians. After thousands of people flocked to the pagodas initially–and the Covid-19 infection rate shot up, the government suspended all ceremonies. Four or five people at a time were allowed into special areas set up at the gates of the pagodas, as seen in this photo from a week ago.

Yesterday was a different story. It was the last day of the holiday and people jammed up at the pagodas. At least they’re wearing masks. Everyone is waiting now to see what those who traveled to the provinces to commemorate with their relatives bring back with them. A surge in Covid-19 infections is expected.

Pchum Ben Holidays

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!

Baby Monks

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.