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| By
: Moul Vongs. |
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On the 15th
day of the waxing moon during the tenth month of
the Khmer calendar, called Pheaktrobotr, Cambodian
Buddhists celebrate Bonn Pchum Ben _ the Festival
of the Dead.
This celebration usually falls in the first half
of September in the western calendar. This year
it falls on September 17.
But the festival does not just begin and end on
one day. In fact, it lasts 15 days, each of which
is called a day of Kan Ben. A Ben is an offering.
During the first 14 days, people takes turns offering
food to the monks of their local pagodas in the
hope that their offering will reach the souls of
their ancestors and friends by virtue of the monks'
sermons. The word of Ben is derived from Sankrit
pinda, or balls of rice to be offered to the souls
of the dead.
The tradition is an ancient one.
Inscriptions in stone left by King Yaçovarman
(889-910) tell us that he built numerous monasteries
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At Wat Langka, Phnom Penh:
A Buddhist follower offers food to a monk
and invites him to pray for her ancestors.
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during that period,
and that pinda were offered on a monthly basis, not only
to "abandoned souls" _ souls with no family
to make offerings to them _ but also to souls of combatants
who had died for their country.
All religions were banned during the genocidal Pol Pot
regime (1975-79), and religious followers killed.
Under its dark reign, the regime killed at least 28,000
Buddhist monks and destroyed 3,968 pagodas. Many former
pagodas as well as mosques, churches and other sacred
places were turned into prisons, torture rooms, pig farms
or manure depots.
But after Cambodia found peace, the festival was revived,
and today it is celebrated in 3,731 pagodas housing 50,873
monks across the country.
The present-day Ben are balls of glutinous rice, cooked
in coconut milk and mixed with various ingredients according
to local customs.
The way a Ben is held also differs slightly from locality
to locality.
The final day of Pchum Ben is the most important for all
followers.
On this day, all Khmer Buddhist followers, the rich as
well as the poor, manage to prepare food and other offerings
for their visit to a pagoda.
On this day, at every pagoda around the country, the mass
collection of offerings (Bens) is dedicated to the souls
of ancestors.
If this duty is ignored, it is believed that the soul
is cursed and will haunt the neglectful descendents for
the rest of the year. Each year, State and private company
employees are given a one-day holiday to observe this
vital duty. |
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Followers putting rice into
a monk’s alms bowl at Wat Lanka in Phnom
Penh during Pchum Ben Festival
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In the early
morning of the last day of the Pchum Ben Festival,
visitors can join the throngs at the pagodas and
take photos of local people of all ages in traditional
costume.
Women especially, don their best traditional dress,
and come wearing their silk Sampot Hol
Sampot Phamuong, embroidered blouses and scarves
and bearing offerings, candles and incense sticks.
Num Onsam and sweet Num Korm (steamed cakes wrapped
in banana leaves) are taken to pagodas during the
festival to share among participants.
Num Onsam is a kind of cylindrical cake of glutinous
rice wrapped around a mixture of pork, salt and
other ingredients.
Num Korm is shaped like a pyramid and made of rice-flour
and filled with a coconut and palm sugar mixture.
Money raised among Buddhist followers and offered
to monks _ on this occasion and during other cultural
and social events _ goes towards the construction
or renovation of it (temples) and community developments
such as the construction of bridges and schools,
tree planting projects, or |
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as donations to
needy families.
Khmers believe that fraternal feelings are fostered with
the exchange of food and Num Onsam and Num Korm cakes.
This ensures that visitors to any pagoda during the Pchum
Ben festival will be warmly welcomed and invited to taste
these cakes and enjoy the festivities. |
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Suite
B8, Regency Square, InterContinental Hotel, 294 Mao Tse Toung
Boulevard,
Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia.
Tel: (855) 23 213 133 Fax: (855) 23 213 033
E-mail:
editor@leisurecambodia.com |
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