In celebration of the recent Chinese New Year (which is celebrated by many a Cambodian), Bobsoldout.com presents to you, Dear Reader, one of our favorite Chinese proverbs:
There is many a good man to be found under a shabby hat.
Happy Year of the Tiger!
I say to myself, Hey man, I know your feelings about church, okay, I know your thoughts on the paranormal, on ghosts and spirits, the afterlife, God and coincidences and religion-in-general, and I know you don’t actually believe you are feeding small-mouthed spirits who annually escape from Hell and demand appeasement, okay?
So what are you doing, then, sitting at a pagoda in a place I can’t pronounce, in a way that makes most of your lower body fall asleep, lighting incense and candles and praying beneath an altar of Golden Idols, trying to meditate to a chant you can’t decipher in a country where Buddhism is not hip because it’s traditional and just what everybody does, and by the way your understanding of the practices are at best fundamentally different from what the people sitting next to you probably believe, and by the looks of those in attendance it’s especially not the “thing-to-do” for those in your age group, anyway?
And I say to myself, Hey man, I know it’s not about any of that, really, so much as it’s about the Spirit of the Ritual, and
Communion, and
You can think what you want, man, but it’s really not between me and you anyway, and besides we’re just getting to know each other, and there is no God who wouldn’t live here.
Habitat Build
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (May 1, 2009) Fifteen U.S. Peace Corps members worked for five days this week to complete a model house in Phoum Phnom Bat, the Cambodian site of Habitat for Humanity’s Jimmy and Rosalynn Work Project, Nov. 15-20, 2009. Continue at the Habitat website…
With closure of the Stung Meanchey dump, 21 families facing eviction will move near Udong mountain with the help of an Australian and Habitat for Humanity. Continue at the Phnom Penh Post…
Holidays (text lazily copied from the Habitat newsletter)
On 12 May, the Royal Ploughing Ceremony took place. Cambodian farmers wait anxiously for this annual event that is said to predict the weather and farming conditions for the upcoming year. Royal oxen are led in a procession to seven gold trays containing rice, corn, sesame seeds, beans, grass, water and wine. Based on the items the oxen chose to eat, predictions are made about floods, good harvests and excessive rainfall. The prediction this year? Because the oxen chose to eat only beans and corn, royal astrologers predict that the annual rice production will fall by 30%, but there will be plenty of rainwater throughout the country.
On May 14, King Sihanmoni’s birthday is a countrywide celebration where Cambodian’s enjoy a few days off from work to take part in the festivities that celebrate the life of King Sihanmoni.
Photos
First, go look at Mikel Flamm, who lives in Bangkok and photographs Southeast Asia.
Then, look at my photos from Ratankiri and Mondulkiri.
April 14 – 16 was the Khmer New Year, one of the year’s biggest holidays.
– It marks the break between one rice harvest and one rice planting season.
– April is the hottest month so things generally slow down a bit.
– Students get a short school break and families who can afford to travel usually do it now.
– It generally marks the end of dry season and the beginning of wet season.
– It’s not unusual for the Teenagers to pair up around now.
– Throwing talcum powder and water balloons at passers-by is not uncommon, though generally frowned upon by the police.
– As per usual, there was an offering made at home and visits to the wat.
January 1 is International (solar) New Year, but that’s not much celebrated here except by ex-pats and tourists. Same goes for Christmas.
Next comes Victory Over (Auto-)Genocide Day, on January 7. This is actually a controversial holiday, as it also marks the entrance of a Vietnamese government. Where I am it was celebrated in a manner akin to any other day off, not an especially special day.
The Chinese (lunar) New Year comes next, and I welcomed the Year of the Ox with lots of shouting and firecrackers with the children who live nearby. One firecracker even exploded between my feet.
And it’s also wedding season! which you can look into here. A week or two ago I joined the celebration of one of my friends/fellow teachers in the procession of gifts to the bride’s home, and the cutting of hair with golden comb and scissors to bring a fresh start and good luck to the couple.
And don’t forget about Meak Bochea, another (lunar) Buddhist holiday, marking the spontaneous assemblage of 1250 Buddhists 2500 years ago. This year it was February 9. I carried a flag in my local celebration and walked barefoot in a circle with a small congregation of monks and laity who were chanting and burning incense. I don’t pretend to understand it all, but I can explain the fundamentals. Most holidays of the type of Buddhism practiced here (Theravada) involve a celebration of the family and community (or “Sangha”); a celebration of the compassionate Truths of the Buddha (or “Dharma”); and a celebration of the Buddha himself, understood as a very real human person who attained a sort of Englightenment and then devoted his life to teaching others.
When I was in second grade my class and I were instructed to make calendars as family gifts for the holiday season. Each month of the calendar needed an illustration and a fact. For April, because of the term “spring chicken,” I drew a chicken. I drew this chicken running around with its head cut off because, ignorant though I was of most chicken facts, someone had told me and I took on good faith that a chicken with its head cut off will run around the yard for a while. So that was my picture and fact for April.
I assumed this fact would also be true of turkeys, so November was an easy month to complete, on account of Thanksgiving. By December I had grown quite bored with this project so, since Christmas dinner at my house is eerily similar to Thanksgiving dinner, and as I was at this point fairly well-practiced in drawing headless poultry, my 12-month calendar included crayon drawings of three headless birds. This did not fare well with my teacher, who I can now only assume had an unhealthy aversion to depictions of of flightless animals.
Anyway, here’s a tip I learned over Christmas: If you tie a chicken’s legs together — headless or not — it is rendered almost totally immobile.
Most homes and places of business have a small altar to respect the family’s ancestors. On nights of a full moon (which happens 12 times a year, the basis of the lunar calendar), candles and incense are lit and food is offered for the spirits.
During one of those full moons, which happened to be a few weeks ago, is the Water Festival, and during Water Festival is the Moon Festival. On the night of the Moon Festival the local pagoda (or “wat”) hosts the community to pay reverence to the moon, earn merit, and generally have a good time (and, of course, raise funds).
At my local celebration there were many families and food stalls, much chanting and incense, and very loud music and dancing (and, of course, a beautifully full moon).
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