As the Khmer people count down to the end of the year, Khmer New Year, they will be preparing for a time of great feasting, socializing, and cleansing. The celebrations, which will run from the 12th to the 16th of April, are known as Choul Chnam Thmey. During this time, there will be many events held to mark the occasion, with many being held in the capital city of Phnom Penh.
These celebrations are extended to include visits to relatives and friends, and the playing of traditional games. Khmer New Year is a time for families to get together to celebrate not only the New Year but also to celebrate family ties.
The Khmer New Year—Chol Chnam Thmey in the Khmer language—is one of Cambodia’s major holidays. Communities with roots in the Khmer culture, which includes most Cambodians and the Khmer minority in Vietnam, stop work for three whole days to return to their home communities and celebrate.
Unlike many Asian holidays that are set to the lunar calendar, the Khmer New Year follows the Gregorian calendar and is celebrated for three days, taking place every year from April 13–15. Neighboring Buddhist countries like Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos celebrate their respective New Year celebrations on or around the same date.
Why Do Khmer Celebrate the New Year?
The Khmer New Year marks the end of the traditional harvest season, a time of leisure for farmers who have toiled all year to plant and harvest rice. April represents a rare break from the hard work, since it’s the hottest and driest month of the year, making it all but impossible to work for long in the fields.
As the harvest season winds down, farming communities turn their attention to the rites of the New Year ahead of the rainy season that arrives in late May.
Until the 13th century, the Khmer New Year was celebrated in late November or early December. A Khmer King (either Suriyavaraman II or Jayavaraman VII, depending on who you ask) moved the celebration to coincide with the end of the rice harvest.
The Khmer New Year is not strictly a religious holiday, although many Khmer visit the temples to commemorate the holiday.
How Do the Khmer Celebrate Their New Year?
The Khmer mark their New Year with purification ceremonies, visits to temples, and playing traditional games.
At home, observant Khmer do their spring cleaning and set up altars to offer sacrifices to the sky deities, or devodas, who are believed to make their way to the Mount Meru of legend at this time of year.
At the temples, entrances are garlanded with coconut leaves and flowers. Locals visit the pagodas and bring offerings of food, desserts, and other everyday items to appease their deceased ancestors.
The temple courtyards also become playgrounds for the Khmer, who play traditional Khmer games during this time of year. A game called angkunh, for example, uses large inedible nuts that are tossed and knocked about by opposing teams.
How Long Does the Khmer New Year Festival Last?
The Cambodian New Year is celebrated for three whole days, each with its own ritual significance and ceremonies.
- Moha Songkran: The first day is celebrated as a welcome to the New Angels of the year. Khmer clean their homes on this day; they also prepare food offerings to be blessed by the monks in the pagodas. Conservative Khmer communities permit only this day for the free mingling between males and females, so Moha Sangkran is important for men and women who are looking for future spouses. The traditional New Year games offer men and women a rare opportunity to mingle.
- Vanabot: The second day is a day for remembering one’s elders, both living and departed. Khmer provide donations to the poor on this day. In the temples, Khmer honor their ancestors through a ceremony called bang scole. They also build dome-shaped stupas of sand in remembrance of the dead. The stupas represent the burial place of the Buddha’s hair and diadem, Culamuni Cetiya.
- Thgnai Loeung Sak: The third and final is officially the first day of the new year. On this day, the stupas built by the Khmer in the temples are blessed. Devotees bathe Buddha statues in the temples in a ceremony called “Pithi Srang Preah”; they also ceremonially wash elders and monks and ask them for forgiveness for any mistakes made during the year. A royal procession in the capital Phnom Penh caps off the day’s celebrations, which also include elephant races, horse races, and boxing matches.
Where Can I Celebrate Khmer New Year?
Most of the cities are deserted during this time of year, as Khmer travel to their hometowns to celebrate the New Year with their loved ones. Most services shut down altogether. But if you want to see the local color of the holidays, visit the pagodas—but don’t forget to follow the basic rules of pagoda etiquette.
In Phnom Penh, the best place to be during the New Year is the temple of Wat Phnom, where the Khmer congregate to play traditional games, watch traditional performances, and throw talcum powder at each other.
Khmer New Year in Cambodia, pictured was taken in Svay Rieng Province 2019