Khmer New Year 14-16 April

Celebration #3

streets were indeed empty during the new year period. The streets became more dangerous, though, because the lesser number of vehicles took holiday from all traffic laws also so that red lights were meaningless. Drivers needed to be extremely cautious going through intersections.
These are squatter huts near the DDP office, built on the edge of the road. These are POOR people, and even they were gone during the holidays! Somehow they scraped together enough money to get back to home in the provinces, wherever that is.
The most efficient branch of city services, according to a 2008 survey, is the garbage collection department, but even they took the new year off, too. Piles of garbage appeared throughout the city to the delight of the birds, rats, chickens, dogs, and goats.
This spirit house, of Thai origin, is to placate the original spirits of the land the humans now occupy. The present occupants felt the spirits should enjoy the new year, too, though, and made offerings to the them.
A restaurant closed for the holidays but left its offerings to the ancestors out where the ancestor spirits could find them.
The bus bustling bus station was another place where a table was set up with offerings for the ancestral spirits. Again, this usually indicates a Chinese family's involvement. This type of offering is more Chinese than Khmer.
There are traditional new year games that are taught and played each year, and every year the children eagerly await them. Thus the Khmer culture is passed on from generation to generation.
Near the DDP office, all the people who couldn't afford to return to the provinces could at least get together and enjoy the holidays with all the neighbors.
Visiting is a part of the new year traditions, and even though we are Westerners, some staff from our projects came to visit John and Charlie. This woman brought a big bowl of traditional Khmer food for us to enjoy.
Some people can't afford to leave town. Others decide NOT to leave, thinking there's money to be made. This woman kept her vegetable stall open on the side of the regular market which was closed, and she had a steady stream of customers.
And the growing season can't wait on holidays so this man was bringing a load of cut vegetables into town from an outlying area. Unfortunately he broke down, but in true holiday spirit, many were willing to help get him moving again.

Khmer New Year 14-16 April

Celebration #1 ets of Phnom Penh in mid morning were almost deserted. Everyone who could left town for the provinces, and the ones who stayed enjoyed quiet time at home with family and neighbors.
This man was out early to make sure his flag was straight and true.
Because their passengers were not out on the streets, neither were the cyclo peddlers who took a forced break. They are among the poorest of the urban poor and would not take a holiday if they had an option. This is a shelter where a group of the cyclo drivers live.
Many families prepared decorations for their homes. This arrangement is more spiritual than decorative, an offering to ancestors, and it indicates a family with Chinese ancestry.
Near the DDP office our really poor neighbors make the most of the holiday on a mat spread out on the side of the street in front of their small wooden shack. The DDP guard (blue shirt, in back) joined them for the afternoon since the DDP office was closed.
Some of the people still on the streets hadn't finished their visiting and took a tuk-tuk loaded with gifts to see their friends or family.
The people who stayed in town still needed to eat, and betting that they didn't want to cook, and that there are always poor people for whom a baguette is a full meal, this man continued his rounds on his bicycle, selling various types of bread.
And of course some of the people still in town had flat tires so a few of the street mechanics stayed open for that business. And maybe some of the mechanics didn't have a choice. They work, eat, and sleep from a little wooden platform on the street.
For the poor kids, a holiday isn't much different from any other day because they have no opportunity or money to go to school. They play in the garbage piles like any other day. The difference is that the pile is bigger today because there is no pickup because of the holidays.
There is a hierarchy in the jobs open to the poor people who come to the big city looking for work. One of the lowest levels of work is that of the people who walk the streets scavenging for recyclables with only an empty bag. They can't afford to rent a pushcart.
In the evening the area near the waterfront starts to fill with people looking for an inexpensive way to be outside and away from some of the crowds and dirt and heat of the city. Just recently the city installed these water fountains in a park near the river. Large speakers add music to the visual spectacle.
For this young couple, the twilight and a stone bench provide some open-air privacy they won't find around their homes.

Khmer New Year 14-16 April

	Preparation Every year the Khmer New Year is celebrated around April 14-16, and it is the most important holiday in the Cambodian calendar. For other holidays, people tend to come to Phnom Penh to celebrate, but for this festival everyone goes home to the province where they grew up and Phnom Penh is relatively deserted. The government this year put out flags along many streets and this one is in front of the Maryknoll office.
The Royal Palace is suitably decorated for all big public holidays. This structure is a royal viewing standing, overlooking the river. The only time it is used is during the boat races for the Water Festival when the king presides.
This year the city government put out thousands of small flags along many streets. There does not seem to be any pattern for which streets get them and which ones don't, or how many flags are allocated to one block. Some houses have three or four in front of them while other streets may have only two or three flags for the whole block.
For major holidays and celebrations, the waterfront is crowded with onlookers. There are now some of these toilets permanently situated near the river, but before the new year celebration more were brought in.
The city beautifies the city for the three-day new year celebration and flower vendors like these sell the flowers that are traditional for each household.
This woman is selling new year watermelons to this young couple. The woman has slept on the street with her watermelons for about a week before the new year.
It is estimated that sixty percent of the population of Phnom Penh leaves the city during the new year holiday, a traditional time to be with family at home. And the hometown is usually in the provinces. Those who live within a few miles of the city travel on these remarques pulled by motorcycles.
Those who live farther away from the capital travel in decrepit, overcrowded vans along with all sorts of cargo. These trips are not pleasant but are just part of the pattern of life here.
This man is closing up a haang bai, a little food stall for the motorcycle taxi drivers and guards with no money. This is on the corner of Charlie Dittmeier's street and he eats here three or four nights a week. The shop's owners will be gone to the province for a week like everyone else.
Different holidays have various traditions associated with them. For some, a roast duck is in order. These ducks were hanging out, ready for sale, on new year's eve. The railing is keep people from falling into an eight-foot deep open sewer that runs through the neighborhood.
In the days before the new year, many motorcycles were seen coming into the city with small banana trees to be made into these special decorations for the home. They would be analogous to a Christmas wreath for a western country at Christmas time.

Pchum Ben (All Souls Day) 18-20 September 2009

The Town Empties Out Because Pchum Ben is a family festival—honoring the family's deceased members and ancestors—and because most people in Phnom Penh are not from Phnom Penh, the city basically empties out during this type of holiday. It is incredible how few people are around. It's like nothing that would ever be seen in a city in the United States.
	Most people who were going to leave Phnom Penh for the holiday left early--several days ago. Our deaf students went home last weekend. But there are always some who must stay for work or other reasons. Here a pickup taxi heads out of town with a load of last-minute departures going to the provinces.
	This is a major street in the Boeung Keng Kong I area of town. It is hard to believe how few people and vehicles are on the streets during Pchum Ben. It is as if the city had been evacuated.
	The people who stay in the city are those who must stay, like these guards in front of a closed bank branch.
	Farther away from the center of town, these are small shops shuttered for the holidays. The entire Pchum Ben festival is about two weeks. In the middle are three public holidays when everything closes down.
	This is the parking area of the Boeung Keng Kong Market. Normally it would be jammed with motorcycles.
	One of the main gates into the interior of the Boeung Keng Kong Market. For these three days, the rats have full reign.
	On the street outside the market, these few determined vendors maintained a presence during the holidays. Either they had no family to go to or no money to leave town or they just decided it wasn't worth the trip and that they would stay and try to make a few riel from the others who stayed and still needed to eat.
	On another street near the market, these large bundles on the edge of the street are great sacks of used clothing. On a normal market day, they are spread out on large sheets in five-foot high piles for people to pick through.

Pchum Ben (All Souls Day) 18-20 September 2009

The Church Celebration Today, Sunday, was celebrated as All Souls Day in Cambodia. For most of the Western Church, it was the 25th Sunday of Ordinary Time, but because Cambodian culture and society honors their ancestors and deceased family members at this Pchum Ben time, the Church has given permission for All Souls Day to be moved to this festive period so that Christianity is not seen as "foreign" and at odds with the local customs and mores.
	At the rear of the Catholic Church compound is this small stupa, of traditional architecture, where the ashes of cremated persons are kept. Most people are cremated in Cambodia and for the Catholic Cambodians a sacred place to keep the ashes of their relatives is important.
	Inside the stupa—which is always open and never locked—families have placed small urns with the ashes and pieces of bone from the cremation of their loved ones. A variety of containers and arrangements are evident. Some show Chinese influence, others just more money in the family. Note the can of Coca-Cola left as an offering by one urn.
	Because two of the three Pchum Ben holidays fell on the weekend, the government granted another day off on the following Monday. So even though people have had three days off from work, the streets are still empty because most people will not return to town until Monday.
	Many small businesses in Cambodia have no formal address or even a building but are just set up along the streets. This pile of tables and goods is wrapped in a blue plastic tarp and sits next to a building waiting for the owners to come and set up their business again on Tuesday.
	Because this is such a major holiday the garbage collection by the trucks was halted so bags of trash have appeared along the streets throughout the city.

Pchum Ben (All Souls Day) 18-20 September 2009

Beginning the Celebration

Pchum Ben is one of the three major times of celebration for Cambodian people. Preceding it in the calendar is the Khmer New Year, THE biggest festival of the year, occurring in April; and following it in November is the Water Festival. Each of the three has its own special flavor, ceremonies, and migrations of people from one part of the country to another. Pchum Ben is the most spiritual of the three festivals. It is equivalent to All Souls Day in the Christian calendar of the West, a time in which deceased ancestors are remembered and their spirits honored by visits to pagodas and gifts to the monks.
	Pchum Ben is celebrated at the time of the new moon in September and actually extends a week prior to and a week beyond the new moon. These pictures are from the beginning of the remembrance period, five days before the official public holidays. These two women are dressed traditionally for a Buddhist ceremony and are making their way to a pagoda.
	Certain types of flowers are traditional on Buddhist festivals and at Pchum Ben. These fragrant sprays are sold in many of the regular markets.
	The festive spirit greets the oncomer long before reaching the main gate of the pagoda. Most pagodas are in compounds about a block square, and the front side is decorated with Buddhist and Cambodian flags along the main street.
	At the main gate, flower sellers approach everyone who hasn't stopped at a market on the way, making possible last-minutes purchases.
	Inside the pagoda, the main buildings are decorated colorfully for the occasion. This year the official public holidays for Pchum Ben are September 18-20.