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When
staring in the face of adversity religious
people will often invoke the name of their
god. For example, a Buddhist would say "Buddha,
Buddha!" whereas a Muslim would say
"Allah, Allah!" These words
strengthen them against their problems and
invoke the omnipotent nature of their particular
deity.
In rural Cambodia, a lingering legacy of pre-Buddhist
animism provides an important social structure.
Pithi Sen - Prein is a traditional ceremony
referring to all and any spirits. Of special
importance are the ancestors and their active
role within contemporary world of the living.
"Me" is the female ancestor;
while "Ba" is the male one
and the phrase "Chah-Tomm"
refers to the ancestors. For a rural Khmer
invoking the power of the ancestors is the
most important force they can call on.
For centuries rural Khmers have enacted this
ceremony when any problems, such as ill health,
befall their family members. The animism,
that existed prior to the arrival of Buddhism,
taught that all things have spirits. Inanimate
and natural phenomena all have souls. An important
part of this cosmology was the role the ancestors
play. They had to be appeased, consulted and
even worshipped in their own right. |
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By
: Chhin Veth, Picture by : Nary.
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Its all in the balance:
if the egg falls over as
any normal egg would, the person is innocent,
if not they will
incur the wrath of the Me-Ba
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A prime
example of this is during a ceremony of a wedding.
The Acha will always make offerings to the spirits
of the ancestors. This is to let them know about
the marriage and to ask for their blessing. Those
who do not take this chance to placate the spirits
are courting disaster.
If a family member falls sick with strange symptoms
like: exhaustion, anxiety, melancholy, insomnia
or hysterical crying. If all the medicines do not
work and there are regular periods of sickness,
this is when, for whatever reason, you have angered
the ancestors and a Me-ba is angry with you.
According to Khmer tradition there exist four types
of Me-ba:
Chah-Tomm Kramom-Kamloh
or Me-Ba Kramom-Kamloh (Kramom is a young girl and
Komloh is a young boy) is the Me-ba who gets angry
only with young girls and young boys who fall in
love each, and conceive a child outside of wedlock.
This Me-ba gets angry only with the young girl's
relatives.
Chah-Tomm Rolom Sner
or Me-Ba Rolom Sner (Rolom is to fall down, Sner
is to love) is the Me-ba who gets angry with young
boys and young girls who fall in love with each
other secretly. This Me-ba gets angry only with
the young boy's relatives, especially the people
living in his house.
Chah-Tomm Pkabb Mokk
or Me-ba Pkabb Mokk (Pkabb Mokk means face on the
ground) is the Me-ba who gets angry only with married
men and married women who have clandestine sexual
intercourse with each other.
Chah-Tomm Peak Somdei or
Me-ba Peak Somdei (Peak Somdei is a word or speaking)
is the Me-ba who gets angry with the families who
have internal conflicts: if there is a breakdown
of the family unit leading to dysfunctionality on
all levels. The occurrence of anyone of these amoral
actions incurs the mighty wrath of the ancestral
spirits. This will be manifested as sickness, normally
not afflicting the perpetrator of the offending
actions. This reproach from beyond the grave is
supposed to punish those who do not look after and
take care of their families.
Once it is established that you are a victim of
the wrath of a Me-ba, the next is to identify exactly
which me-ba it is, in order to know how to placate
it. Pithi Bol Porng Mornn (Bol is to predict or
to pray for something, Porng Mornn is a hens egg)
is believed to be the best way to find out which
of the me-ba has been angered. |
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To
begin the ceremony they take a tray and burn
incense to summon their ancestors. They then
call out the names of the family members whilst
balancing the hens egg on the tray. If the
egg stands when the name is called then that
is the person who has committed the mistake.
The expression for the anger of the me-ba
is "karch" and implies the sickness
resulting in the fury. A firm believer in
this ancient ritual is Yeay Orn, a 67 year-old
woman in Peaream commune, Bati district, Takeo
province. She states that: "Me-ba karch
is true and bol porng mornn is not a lying
thing. . .because if any couple did not commit
a mistake, the porng mornn cannot stand. In
other words, we can say that this couple or
that couple committed a mistake" |
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Yeay Orn
extrapolates, highlighting some of the difficulties
involved: "For the Me-Ba Kramom-Komloh, it
is easy to find out the persons who cause the anger,
because after we perform the egg ritual we compare
this with the actual activities of both the boy
and the girl. Then we can take them to sen prein
easily. On the contrary, for the Me-Ba Pkabb Mokk,
it is difficult to find out who caused the me-ba
to be angry because they are both married."
After they find out, which Me-Ba is causing the
problem, they must prepare pithi sen prein: to apologize
to the spirits to stop their anger with the younger
generations. To help the spirits be patient in allowing
the children to improve with time
Pithi sen prein must be prepared near the patient,
with seven or eight elders and the people who caused
the problem present. Also lain out are: four plates
of food, sweets, rice, five candles, five incense
sticks and cigarettes, for the spirits. |
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After all
the people come together as one, they start lighting
incense whilst reciting incantations saying: "Today
is a good day that we prepare things to offer the
me-ba who is angry with us and causes the patient
to become sick. Please accept our apologies for
not looking after him or her (those who make the
me-ba angry) but now they come and salute the me-ba
to ask forgiveness for all of us and for the patient
to get better and better." They say this three
times and the person who caused the me-ba to be
angry, also salutes to all elders who join this
pithi. After this pithi the two who caused the problem
become a new couple.
"Me-ba karch (angry) is logical, because once
our son got a cold with a high temperature and all
medicine was useless, so I decided to find someone
to find out what happened. We then found out that
the me-ba was angry with us because my niece had
had an argument with me and we had not spoken for
a long time. After sen prein, our son get better"
said Mr. Pen To, a 38 year-old villager in Trapong
Thea village, Tamng Yarb commune, Prei Kabars district,
Takeo province.
Although the pithi sen prein is different from place
to place but the main concept is the same. The same
aim of appeasing the ancestors is a unifying theme.
This belief and its practice are still very much
alive in Khmer society. It serves an important role
in the education of morality. It serves as a righteous
code of conduct; being faithful, not fighting and
keeping within the expected norms of behavior. The
power it holds is that where one can hide ones actions
from a human, a Me-Ba sees all. |
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Incense to be offered to the
ancestral spirits.
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