Cambodia Festivals

1. Bon Phchom Ben (Khmer Ancestor)
Bon Phchom Ben is the autumnal festival dedicate to the spirits of the dead. During a 15- day period leading up to Bon Phchom Ben ( chab pi mouy rouch Khe phout trobut dol dob prab rouch khe phout trobut ), know as Bon Dak Ben, food and money are offer to monks.
On the 15th day of the festival the full moon appears. This day is Bon Phchom Ben(the collection of the Bens, or offerings). The ceremony ends with the full moon because its light deters ghosts(k'maoch) from venturing out at night. If Cambodian families do not make an offering to the Buddha during Bon Phchom Ben, it is believed the souls of dead relative will return to haunt their descendant. Respect for ancestors the khmer belief system and are common themes in cambodian films and TV dramas.

2. Khmer New year
The cambodian new year is a 3-day celebration to mark the end of the harvest and the turn of the lunar year. It takes place annually around the 14th,15th, 16th (or 13th, 14th, 15th)of April. People decorate homes in different colors and make offering to the buddha at local shrines. people usually visit a temple during the celebrations. Like its western equivalent, the Khmer New Year is a time to forget past hardships and look forward with hope. Houses are symbolically cleaned and people buy new clothes for the festival.

The first day of the festival is Moha Sangkran, the second is Virakbornaborth, and the third is Virak Lieng Sak. During this time people believe that the spirits of the old year explain their responsibilities to the spirits of the new year. As the New Year is born, so is the New Heaven. People prepare offerings in combination of lucky numbers (5 candles, 7cigarettes). These offerings are usually presented in a baysey; a container made from parts of the banana tree. Fruit, incense, tobacco and flowers are all accepted forms of offering.
People light candles and pray that the New Heaven will bring them joy. On Moha Sangkran,people build small mounds of sand around temple and Banyan trees. In the following days people add to these 'sand mountain' and invite monks to come and pray over them to appease the spirits of ancestors. On the morning of Virak Lieng Sak people ritually bathe statues of the Buddha. It ks also common for people to bathe their parents and grandparents as part of the cleaning ritual.
Traditional game played during 3 days is Moha Sangkran, Virak Lieng Sak and Virakvanaborth.

Bon Om Touk
Bon Om Touk, the water Festival, is celebrated on the 14-15 Kert  Khea Ka Dek neng 1 Rouch Khea Ka Dek (Lunar Calendar) of November   . Every town joins in the celebration but the place to be for Bon Om Touk is Phnom Penh. For Three Days, hordes of people pour in from the province and join with the city's residents to celebrate by night and day.
The Riverside  comes alive with food stalls, firework and flotillas of brightly lit boats. Firework displays start immediately after sunset(around 6.00pm). The festival coincides with the full moon.
Bon Om Touk is one  of the most important festivals in Cambodia. It provides a chance to give thanks to the Buddha for the year's rice harvest and to ask for sufficient rain in the coming year. The highlight of the festival is a series of boat races that take place over three days and honor the 12th century Cambodia naval victories achieved under king Jayavarman VII. Literally hunrreds of boats begin the latter-day knock-out tournament,which ends on the third day of the festival with the last two boats racing against each other. Each boat has its own colours and up to seventy crew member, so the  early stages of the competition are dazzling. The rowers are urged on by a 'captain' on the prow who beats the stroke-rate with an oar. Some boats have a small altar for good luck.
There are several inportant festivals within the three-day period of Bon Om Touk. Loy Pratit(above) is a water  carnival that begins around 7:00pm with illuminated boats taking to the water. Each boat represents a government ministry or state institution. Sampeas Preah Khe is a ceremony in which salutations are made to the moon. After the ceremony,people gather at a temple at midnight for Ork Ambok, named after the rice dish that forms part of the ceremony. Rice is fried in the husk and then pounded with a gaint pestle. The husks are removed and the special rice  mixed with coconut and banana. This most traditional of khmer dishes is sold throughout the festival.
Royal Ploughing Ceremony
Th Royal Ploughing Ceremony, or Pithi Charat Preah Neanng Korl in khmer, is a prediction ceremony. During  the Ploughing Ceremony, Cambodians believe that it is possible to predict a range of natural events including epidemics, floods , good harvests and excessive rainfall. The khmer are , in general, a highly superstitious people with deeply ingrained ideas about life , fortune and the  supernatural. It is therefore unsurprising that a predictive ceremony such as the Royal Ploughing Ceremony is given important national status.
The Royal Ploughing  Ceremony is held every year in May at the Veal Preamein Square in Phnom Penh, north of the Royal palace , and in front of the National Museum. It is a truly Khmer ceremony, reflecting  the  complex  beliefs and superstition of the  Cambodian people.
Bon Chol Vassa
Held to coincide with the eighth full moon of the  lunar calendar, this festival marks the beginning  of the three-month Buddhist lent, when Buddhist monks fast and meditate. Young men consider this festival auspicious for entering the monkhood.