Festival

Cambodia hold different festivals along the year. Some are related to the religion, some to the agricultural season. More than anywhere in the area, the nature plays as well an important role in these events such as for Bon Om Tuk or Chat Preah Nengkhal

• Between late-January and mid-february, the Chinese New Year or Vietnamese Tet is widely celebrated by the concerned communities in the whole country with dragon dances, music

• Mid-April: Bonn Chaul Chnam is the Cambodian New Year and last three days. All the shops are closed and the towns are decorated. It marks the end of the harvest season and locals spend their time to clean their house and to make offering to the temples. As well, the young splash themselves as a sign of blessing.

• Mid-May: At this period all the country commemorate Bonn Visak Bochea, the birth, the enlightening and the death (parinibbana) of Buddha. Usually the ceremony takes place in the wat and ends in the evening by candlelight processions

• May: Bonn Chrat Preah Nengkhal is a typically cambodian festival lead by the King of Cambodia. Also called Royal Ploughing Ceremony, the festival starts when the King the first furrows in Phnom Penh’s sacred rice field. This act opens the ploughiung season

• Mid-July: Hold at the 8th full moon of the lunar calendar, same than in the neighbouring countries such as Laos or Thailand, Bonn Chol Vassa is the beginning of the three months Buddhist Lent. It is a period of meditation and renunciation

• September/October: Bonn Pchum Ben or Spirit Offering Festival is dedicated to blessing the spirit of the dead and is probably one of the most important festival in Cambodia. Everybody visit their nearest wat to offers food and offering to the monks and as well to give blessing to the soul of the ancestors

• October/November: Bonn Kathen marks the end of the Buddhist Lent and the return of the monk from their retreat. During this festival, you may assist to different processions where people offer new items to the pagodas

• November: One of the most famous festival mainly hold in Phnom Penh: Bonn Om Touk or water festival. This event is celebrated alongside the Tonle Sap river which is the only one river in the world which flows in opposite directions at different times of the year. During the raining season, the water flow from the Mekong river to the Tonle Sap and as well raise the level of the Tonle Sap reservoir. Then, at the beginning of the dry season, the river start to flow in the opposite direction, getting to the Mekong river. This is the return to the Mekong that is unique and celebrated with three days of boat races, fairs, fireworks, music and performances