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Cambodia Water Festival10-12 November 2000
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The past six weeks have seen holidays here in Cambodia almost every week. On Thursday of this week we celebrated Cambodian Independence Day, and on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday the Cambodian Water Festival. Click here for a history and description of the Water Festival and click here for photos from this year's celebration! Interesting! And click here for some follow-up notes after the festival! |
Independence Day 20009 November 2000
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Cambodia was part of French Indochina, along with Laos and Vietnam, and this monument to independence was erected at the end of French colonial rule in South East Asia in the 1950s. (Charlie lives just three blocks from here.) | |
Units from the Cambodian army, navy, and air force take part in the Independence Day celebration on 9 November 2000. | |
A military honor guard stands at attention near a ceremonial flame inside the independence memorial. | |
Many school children came to the ceremony which started at 7:00 AM (which is midmorning for Cambodians). These girls, in the normal school uniform, prepare to leave after the ceremony. | |
The flag of Cambodia was arrayed prominently around the monument. They were left flying for the visit of President Jiang Ji Men of China who came to Phnom Penh for an official visit on 10 November. | |
For the poor, there are no holidays. Here a woman selling fruit and baked goods sits near the crowds. On her head she wears a khrama which balances the tray of fruit on her head when she walks. |
A Khmer WeddingKadaka, one of the teachers of the Maryknoll people at the Khmer School of Language, was married to Chantha on 28 October, and we were anxious to go because none of us had yet attended a Khmer wedding. Actually, we were invited to the reception rather than to the wedding because the wedding begins at 6:00 AM or 7:00 AM with various traditional rituals, such as a procession to the bride's house, ceremonies with the parents, etc., and only the families are present for that. We were invited to the last stage, a large banquet. I was surprised how the Khmer wedding ceremony is almost identical to those I experienced with the Chinese in Hong Kong. |
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Here all the KSL teachers and staff lined up for a group photograph in front of the banquet area which was set up in a field near Kadaka's house. Large canopies covered the eating area which was also equipped with fans and a too loud music system. There were tables for about 300 people. | |
The man on the left is the gatekeeper at the Khmer School of Language, and he and I have become good friends. We don't always understand what the other is saying, but we laugh a lot. He came and grabbed me by the wrist and brought me out to the front to have my picture taken with him and the wedding couple. Note the bride is wearing blue and the attendants gold at this point. | |
About thirty round tables were set up under the large canopy for a Chinese-style dinner of 7 or 8 courses. Here Cori Petro and Rachel Smith show their prowess with chopsticks as they eat with Joli, another of our teachers, who drove us to the wedding. He said that they eat Khmer food at home but for occasions like a wedding banquet, the fare is normally Chinese. | |
We barely had a chance to say hello to Kadaka because, unlike a US-style wedding reception, there was no reception line and the newlyweds did not circulate around to al the tables as in a Chinese-style wedding. Here the bride and groom greet the guests as they enter and leave, but they were out changing clothes when we arrived. As we left, Kadaka was wearing a gold dress and her attendants red dresses. |
Lecture Series |
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October, 2000 Fr. Francois Ponchaud is a French missionary priest who came to Cambodia in 1965. He is likely the most fluent and most inculturated foreigner in the country today. We had a series of four lectures by him on Khmer history, Khmer culture, Khmer religions, and the history of the Catholic Church in Cambodia. Quite good! |
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This photo shows three aspects of Cambodian culture. The first is the amputee in a wheelchair, a very common sight in the country. Then are the white adhesive bandages on the forehead of the man and on the back of his neck. These pieces of tape hold on mixtures of leaves and insect parts and other traditional medicines. Barely visible is the other characteristic of traditional Khmer medical treatment. On the man's chest there are red stripes caused by a process called "coining" in which the skin is rubbed with the edge of a coin to increase circulation. |
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How to Sleep
How to Walk
How to Stand
How to Sit
How to Speak
How to Eat
How to Greet
How to Dress
How to Work
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