April 14th 2018 !!!
The most joyful day of all Khmer people. It's the first day of Khmer New year festival. In Cambodia we celebrating this for 3 days!!! Our Khmer New year this year falls on April 14th 15th and 16th. Everyone has 3 days off from work and they all travelling back to their own village to celebrate with their families and friends over there or they're going to celebrate at our famous temple Ankor Wat.
This is a picture of me and my family on Khmer new years day last April 14th 2018. It was taken after all the performances we joined, me and my girl.
Cambodian New Year (Khmer: បុណ្យចូលឆ្នាំថ្មី) or Choul Chnam Thmey in the Khmer language, literally "Enter New Year", is the name of the Cambodian holiday that celebrates the traditional Lunar New Year.[1] The holiday lasts for three days beginning on New Year's Day, which usually falls on April 13th or 14th, which is the end of the harvesting season, when farmers enjoy the fruits of their labor before the rainy season begins. Khmer living abroad may choose to celebrate during a weekend rather than just specifically April 13th through 16th. The Khmer New Year coincides with the traditional solar new year in several parts of India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Laos and Thailand.
April 14th 2018:
Maha Sangkran, derived from Sanskrit Maha Sankranti, is the name of the first day of the new year celebration. It is the end of the year and the beginning of a new one. People dress up and light candles and burn incense sticks at shrines, where the members of each family pay homage to offer thanks for the Buddha's teachings by bowing, kneeling and prostrating themselves three times in front of his image. For good luck people wash their face with holy water in the morning, their chests at noon, and their feet in the evening before they go to bed.
April 15th 2018:
Vireak Vanabat is the name of the second day of the new year celebration. People contribute charity to the less fortunate by helping the poor, servants, homeless, and low-income families. Families attend a dedication ceremony to their ancestors at monaste.
April 16th 2018:
T'ngai Loeng Sak in Khmer is the name of the third day of the new year celebration. Buddhists wash the Buddha statues and their elders with perfumed water. Bathing the Buddha images is a symbolic practice to wash bad actions away. It is also thought to be a kind deed that will bring longevity, good luck, happiness and prosperity in life. By washing their grandparents and parents, the children can obtain from them best wishes and good pieces of advice to live the life for the rest of the year.
It calls "Srang Preah (Buddha) and Srang Preah Rous (your grandparents / parents)"
I live in the Netherlands. We also did celebrate Khmer New year on April 14th. It was a beautiful and blessed day. As we are not in Cambodia, we only did celebrate it for one day.
This is a picture of the place me and my team prepared for Khmer new year in Breda, the Netherlands.
The Khmer New Year is also a time to prepare special dishes. There was a lot of very very nice dishes and dessert!
And also there were Khmer traditional dances, like Robam Chounpor (Wishing dance), Robam Kous Trolauk (coconut dance) and a show called Robam Trot under my guidance. It was AWESOME to put down all this performance. I really enjoyed it!
Next time i will explain the meaning of all these performances. By now, see my pictures :)!
Robam Chounpor:
Robam Kous Trolauk:
Robam Tivea Propey:
These pictures were from Robam Trot:
Last but not least!
I want to wish all Steemians a happy Khmer new year too. May all of your wishes comes true and may you have a lot of luck, love and good health! Love you all!
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Till next story!