Depending on the occupation and wealth of the family, the holiday can last between one day and a week. For example, farmers, even though they are usually poor, have a lot of time to celebrate the holiday since it is not harvest or planting time. Sellers at the market, like my family, even if they are rich, need to work because business is good during Khmer New Year. And the extremely wealthy can celebrate a long time, while those who are poor do not celebrate much because they do not have enough money.
The holiday requires buying lots of food and drinks and making donations at pagodas or dance sites where people congregate. So, Khmer people spend a lot of money during the holiday. Following the holiday, I asked people if they “were happy on Khmer New Year.” Most people would say yes, but the reason a lot of people said no was because they did not have any money.
As a result of the cost of celebrating, many thefts occur around the holiday because people want money. My family said business was great during Khmer New Year, but afterward, it was not good because people spent all their money.
April 13
The day before Khmer New Year, I went on a bike ride to different pagodas with Samon (a teacher I work with on projects a lot) and some students. The students who attended are a lot of my students who are active in the community. We had planned to play a lot of traditional Khmer games and talk about not drinking too much on the holiday (any time Cambodian people have free time, excessive binge drinking occurs), but we mostly just played games. Many games resembled western games, like duck duck goose, tug of war and tag.
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| From pre-khmer new year 2010 |
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| From pre-khmer new year 2010 |
This game was my favorite. On one end of an area are two full water bottles and on one end are two empty water bottles. The participants race each other to fill the empty ones. But, they have to transport the water across the area from one water bottle to another in their mouths.
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| From pre-khmer new year 2010 |
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| From pre-khmer new year 2010 |
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| From pre-khmer new year 2010 |
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| From pre-khmer new year 2010 |
Cows are always wondering around Cambodia. No big deal, we just chase them away.
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| From pre-khmer new year 2010 |
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| From pre-khmer new year 2010 |
April 14 (Day 1)
By 10 AM, the festivities had begun. Most of the men in my extended host family got together.
All the men enjoying food and beer. . .
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| From khmer new year 2010 |
… while the women cook.
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| From khmer new year 2010 |
April 15
The next day, I spent time with Samon and his family. They made Khmer traditional cakes, which are basically rice with either banana or sugar wrapped in a banana leaf. But, the wrapping process is excessively complicated. I couldn’t do it.
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| From khmer new year 2010 |
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| From khmer new year 2010 |
Then Samon and I went for a walk, stopping at a few small dance parties.
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| From khmer new year 2010 |
Khmer children love climbing trees. No one seems concerned about their safety.
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| From khmer new year 2010 |
Samon and I with blue tongues after eating the berries that the tree climber gave us.
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| From khmer new year 2010 |
April 16 (Day 3 and my birthday)
Khmer people to not celebrate birthdays except for old rich people, so my birthday was uneventful, except for some phone calls from America.
At least there were parties though.
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| From khmer new year 2010 |
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| From khmer new year 2010 |
One Khmer New Year tradition is to put powder on people. It’s supposedly came about as an excuse so the opposite sex can touch each other for once, but it’s also a way for kids to be cute.
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| From khmer new year 2010 |
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| From khmer new year 2010 |
April 17 (Day 4?)
Some people continued to celebrate for a few more days, but I was partied out.
Khmer New Year was interesting and I enjoyed going to a lot of different places. I’m also happy to get back to work. In my next post, I’ll talk about some the health education I’ve been doing in the rural villages with the health center staff.
