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& Picture by : Pi Bunnin. |
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Bang Sakol
is a Buddhist ceremony that is celebrated as an
act of gratitude and merit making. Traditionally,
people always honor the oldest buffalo in their
village. They do not kill it for food but they keep
it and perform Bang Sakol to repay the good deeds
and to thank the buffalo. There is not a fixed date
on the calendar, but villagers would pick any auspicious
day and invite a monk to their village to preside
over the ceremony in honour of the buffalo. The
same ceremony is usually done for human beings.
Most of the Khmer people are farmers and the buffalo
plays an important role in their lives. It could
be said to be a crucial role at that. They pull
the carts and they drag the plow to till the fields.
Each and every night or day, under sunshine
The seemingly lowly buffalo is at the end of its
life revered as
the true packhorse of or rainfall they are there.
Some people fight or torture them through long hours
of hard work. They work without a salary or any
demand for reward and they do not eat
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The seemingly lowly buffalo
is at the end of its life revered as
the true packhorse of Cambodia.
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food as we do,
but simply the grass in the field.
Villagers in the district of Pearorng in Prey Veng province
believe that if someone changes beasts or sells the older
buffalo, they would be considered to be ungrateful. So
if they want to change or sell a buffalo they have to
do so while the animal is still young. Villagers normally
keep their buffaloes until they are old and perform the
Bang Sakol; this gains them merit and hopefully enhances
luck.
Before the arrival of Buddhism, Cambodia was animistic
and Khmer people worshipped mountains, big trees, old
animals, big rivers and huge rocks. People regarded these
things to be their gods and that the spirits in these
things need to be placated. They believe that if someone
destroys an old tree or a big rock, he or she destroys
the property of the gods so accidents will befall and
he/she will be sick or has problems. |
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A Bang Sakol ceremony in honour
of the buffalo is in session.
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Khmer people
believe that the way one treats these objects is
the way one would be treated by the gods. Bang Sakol
for the older buffalo is not celebrated when the
animal actually dies but before, to give thanks
for the hard work and faithful service the animal
has provided.
At first the family would gather the oldest buffalo
- the aged that do not have much time left, and
bathe them. (This is carried out even when the buffalo
is too old to stand on all four). Then they place
a bowl of water and three incense sticks on the
head and apologize for the life of toil. An Acha
(Buddhist layman) then takes the bowl and sprinkle
the water on the buffalo and ties the buffalo's
horns with one end of some twisted cotton yarn and
hands the other end of the yarn to a monk who would
then recite prayers while the entire household sit
quietly in attendance.
When the praying is finished, the monk removes the
yarn from the horns of the buffalo and that ends
the ceremony. The seemingly lowly buffalo is at
the end of its life revered as the true |
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| packhorse of Cambodia.
The animal, that without their tireless work, the country
might not be the same as it is today. |
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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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