LTO Cambodia: Cambodia's other New Year

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Cambodia's other New Year

Chinese New Year (Tet) at Wat Phnom is always an amazing experience. I continue to be surprised that so few (if any) foreigners/tourists come to see the scene at midnight. This year I saw 3 besides myself. I've done photo essays of Chinese New Year at Wat Phnom the past couple of years and so won't burden the reader with yet more photos of the coming of the year. (See Greeting the Dragon at Wat Phnom - 2012 and It's New Year again - 2011.) But I couldn't resist taking a couple of short shaky videos with my iPad, and managed to capture the clamorous scene at midnight.

A few points of note: This was the end of the year of the Dragon (Naga on the Khmer calendar) and the beginning of the year of the Snake, the Water Snake to be specific... The crowd at Wat Phnom was about the same size as last year - a good crowd but still a bit smaller than the crowds of 5-10 years ago... Unlike last year, there were more beggars lining the steps up the hill this year, including a couple of dozen young children. Many people brought stacks of small bills especially for the beggars... Midnight seemed to arrive a little late this year. As I was filming I could hear people in the crowd muttering "midnight already." The clock on my iPad concurred. Yet the gong was not sounding. About a minute later the bell clanged, people cheered and the New Year was officially in... Lastly, in the videos notice the motorcycle helmets and aluminum foil gloves that people were wearing to try to protect against incense burns. People have been wearing helmets for the last year or two, but the foil gloves are, to my memory, a new innovation this year. Check out 1:00 in the second video - midnight, the moment New Year arrives - to see why such protective gear is necessary.

The first video is about 15 minutes before midnight. The second video from 11:59PM to 12:03AM and captures the moment New Year enters.

Chinese New Year, 2013. About 15-20 minutes before midnight at Wat Phnom, Phnom Penh. Note people wearing motorcycle helmets and foil gloves to protect against incense burns.

Chinese New Year, 2013. Midnight at Wat Phnom, Phnom Penh.

See 1:00 for the moment the New Year gong sounded.

5 comments:

Ever So JennyFebruary 10, 2013 at 9:04 AM
I haven't been to Cambodia since 2006 and went during Khmer New Year's. :) So it's really neat to see Chinese New Year celebrated in Cambodia! (I'm Cambodian/Cantonese/Vietnamese- a common mix in SE Asia.)

- Jen

I'm excited to read more of your blog!
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AnonymousFebruary 10, 2013 at 7:02 PM
Have a closer look at your photos from last year - you'll see the gloves then as well - http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cHBHdZemLOE/TxxknxMC9II/AAAAAAAAAvE/hX1dyPH_mRw/s1600/LTOcny12incircle.jpg
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Cambodia

Cambodia is Srok Khmer, the 'Land of the Khmer,' the primary ethnic group in the area since at least the Neolithic and an Indian influenced civilization with origins near 2000 years old. Centered on the lower Mekong and tributaries the Khmer people have dominated the region for millennia. From 2nd century AD Khmer kingdoms rose and fell, culminating in unification and the 500 year reign of the Angkorian Empire, the builders of the temples of Angkor near Siem Reap. The Empire stretched from Burma to the ocean. But by the 1400s Cambodia fell to centuries of change and decline squeezed between the expanding Siam and Vietnam. Colonized and by the French in the 1860s, independence 90 years later in 1954, a brief post-colonial 'golden period' under Sihanouk, coup in 70, civil war, fall to the communist Khmer Rouge in 75, 3 years 8 months 20 days of madness, Vietnamese rescue in 1979, occupation, low level war and international sanctions in the 80s, the UN, ostensive democracy and an adventure party destination in the 90s and now mainstreaming, tourism, rapid development, rapacious capitalism and NGOs, missionaries and other international busybodies aplenty.

Southeast Asia

As the term implies, Southeast Asia encompasses the southeastern corner of the Asian continent, loosely speaking, the area between India, China and Australia. It is made up of two distinct regions: the mainland zone, a bulbous peninsula jutting into the Pacific Ocean, bounded by China to the north and India to the west; and the insular (island) zone in the Pacific Ocean. The name 'Southeast Asia' is a comparatively recent invention, first coming into use into the 20th century and still a bit indefinite in definition. Mainland Southeast Asia is generally considered to include Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Burma (Myanmar) and peninsular Malaysia. The mainland is sometimes referred to as Indo-China though Indochina (Indochine) also designates the 19th/20th century French colonial conglomerate of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Sitting south of the Tropic of Cancer, most of mainland Southeast Asia lies in the hot, humid tropics and sub-tropics with a climate dominated by a monsoon cycle which divides the year into two distinct seasons: a dry season and an extremely wet monsoon season. Much of the mainland is mountainous and thickly jungled, with large river systems and wide, low-lying, flood-prone plains, much of which is, in modern times, deforested and blanketed with geometrical rice paddies. Several major river valleys including the Mekong River, the Red, Ma and Ka rivers and the group of rivers draining to the Chao Praya Delta played host to the rise of early civilization in the area. The Mekong River is one of the world's greatest rivers, the seventh largest on the planet, and since pre-history has been closely associated with the land of the Khmer.