I was lucky enough to be in Cambodia in mid April for Khmer
New Year, one of the biggest celebrations in the Cambodian calendar. More so, I
was lucky enough to spend it with a Cambodian family in Svey Rieng.
One thing I’ve realised in my time here is that Cambodians
will celebrate just about anything. They’ll celebrate their parents and the
anniversary of their parents death (I eventually learnt it’s a 100day
celebration), so to be able to join their biggest celebration, an event that
has a full week of ceremony and festival, was an experience not to be missed.
By Monday the entire family had gathered; a family with 9
adult children, most with families of their own, and a holiday feeling had
descended. Uncles spent their days sat at tables out of doors, in fact, life is
lived out of doors, meals cooked and eaten. They’d drink beers from a cool box
from breakfast until dinner, eating all the while. Food really does seem
endless in these festivities. Early in the morning someone would go out to
fetch breakfast. Take-away is something completely different here: Cambodian
noodles, steamed pork dumplings or rice porridge. By mid-morning rice has been
cooked, with a couple of savoury dishes.
Then there’s lunch and snacks of savoury dishes appearing
all afternoon until dinnertime in the early evening. Often dinner would be
spread out again later on the living room floor to be partaken of again.
Consequently, the Aunts seemed to spend much of their days cooking, prepping or
visiting the market, while the cousins (or nieces and nephews) went out on a
convoy of motorbikes to various entertainments. Throughout the day, the most
available form of entertainment was the dance parties, like secret raves set up
at pagodas, yes- where the monks live. Huge speakers were set up in the centre
courtyard blasting drum and bass, and bad dance remixes, interspersed with
Cambodian song, whereupon the entire dance floor of hipster teenagers would
proceed to dance a slow, salsa like step, traditional circle dance.
The ‘uniform’ or general way of dressing at these was so
wannabe hipster, it made me laugh: skinny jeans and identical shirts- button
fronted in stripes, check or block colour; blue, red or purple predominantly.
Girls and boys wore the same. Exactly the same. They could switch clothes and
never know. Dyed hair, the natural black bleached and dyed in shades from
failed blonde orange, through browns, to red. On the girls: carefully, but
badly applied makeup: whitened skin, bright lipstick in red or pink and glitter
around the eyes.
And all around are parked the hundreds of identical Honda
motorbikes that act as transportation, with 2 or 3 riders perched atop with
practiced casualness, cans of energy drink or sugar cane juice from the stalls
littered all around.
One day we drove around, down dirt road after dirt road, in
a convoy of 11 people on 4 motorbikes, spending more time searching for the
dance parties than actually dancing.
The traditional pagoda New Year festivities continue
alongside these highly modern dances. I wander how they were traditionally
performed…. Traditional games were played: tug-of-war; a piñata like game where
terracotta pots filled with sand were strung up and a blindfolded participant
was given a stick… The monks’ blessings continue. On the last morning a small
crowd gathered in a pavilion at the pagoda. Lotus petals were thrown over the
gathered crowd during prayers and the monks washed 2 gold statues, and then the
blessed washer was sprinkled, thrown, over us. Then the monks turned the hose
on those assembled, drenching us all.
The main ceremony at the pagoda though was the giving of
food. Food plays an important party in Khmer celebrations. 4 times during the
week I was dressed up in the traditional Khmer way of a fancy white shirt: the
more elaborate of which resemble the bodices of wedding dresses; and a tidy,
long, more often than not black skirt; make-up was applied by enthusiastic
cousins and then I was taken off to various ceremonies. These take place at
people’s homes. A marquee is erected, draped in bright colour, normally
including gold; a meal is provided, breakfast or dinner; you pay the donation
and kneel in prayer to receive a blessing from the monks brought in from the
local pagoda; and then you sit at one of the 6-8 tables, eating your fill of
rice and savoury dishes, drinking fizzy drinks and water, then leave.
When it was the day of the ceremony at our house, we had
music, a keyboard and singers through the afternoon. Afterward, when only the
family and a few friends remained, the party started: the same combination of
Khmer music and dance music, which seems to keep every generation happy.
It really is just any excuse to dance during Khmer New Year.
Every other music we would go on mass by motorbike or on foot to find a party:
weddings, birthdays, or just New Year celebrations. Sometimes trekking across
stubble filled fields to find a celebration, and these didn’t include the
dancing trips at the pagoda.
But returning to the big ceremony at the pagoda: the family
had spent the morning preparing food and stored it in beautiful, silver stacking
tins. There was rice; a meat (pork) dish; a veg dish; and a sweet dish (banana
or biscuits). We once again dressed in our best, borrowed best in my case, and
proceeded to the most elaborate building of the pagoda: pillars carved and
painted in white, blue and gold; ceilings covered in beautiful scenes in soft
colours; garlands of rainbow coloured flower hung from every pillar; deep red
cloths covering the low platforms; gold gilt, incense and idols everywhere.
Inside was chaos, but an organised chaos, massed of people but all seeming to
know what they were doing. Many sat on mats on the floor, their tins of food
now empty, talking or enjoying extra food they had brought with them.
Barefoot of course, we picked our way through the crowds,
paid our donations and received our blessings from the monks, as usual,
kneeling in prayer before them. We lit incense and prayed again before a deity
at the end of the room. Then, taking our tins of food, we separated the stacks
until we held a dish each and, walking along the low platform, we poured a
little bit into each bowl that held our respective course of food. That is how
food is donated to the monks on Khmer New Year. I couldn’t help but think how
bad the bowls of food must taste, filled with a little bit of a dozen
different, though similar foods.
Then there were smaller pavilions to visit, with donations
of fruit or money and incense.
And that was my experience of Khmer New Year: a more
elaborate version of the other celebrations that take place throughout the year
in Cambodia. Weddings and funerals are a time where the marquee goes up, the
best clothes put on, food is shared and music is played. They last for 2 or 3
days. Funerals even have another ceremony a week later and one again after
100days.
I had the incredible luck to experience these celebrations
of Khmer culture, and having borrowed so many clothes in the last week, will
now always travel with a nice white shirt!
