Khmer's Pchum Ben, What is.

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Pchum Ben Festival Explain

Pchum Ben Festival is one of the major Buddhist events celebrated in Cambodia. The festival starts from the first day of the decreasing moon in the 10th month in lunar calendar and ends on the dark moon day of the same month. Therefore, it is a 15 day long event. Each of the first 14 days is called Dak Ben while the last day Pchum Ben. During Dak Ben, the neighborhood of a pagoda is divided into 14 groups. Each group is responsible for one day celebration of the event according to the timetable issued by the pagoda. Despite the division, crossing from one group to another is still allowed and welcomed. The last day Pchum Ben is the most auspicious day of the event where everyone celebrates, meets and has fun. Each day the people responsible bring Bay Ben (fragrant sticky rice cooked with coconut milk), food and some other offerings to the pagoda to offer to the monks. In this way, it is believed that the offerings will also be dedicated to their ancestors or the dead.

General belief puts it that during this period, the Demon (King of hell) will release all the spirits ( the dead that cannot make their way to heaven or to reincarnation) to roam the world. These spirits are very afraid of light. As a result, this specific period of the year is chosen to celebrate the festival. Due to all the punishment they suffer in the hell, these spirits are very starving and ugly. For the whole 15 days, they will search all the pagodas in the neighborhood of their relatives’ places for food dedicated to them. They can only receive what is sent to them as sharing is not a habit among them. If they cannot find any offerings, these spirits will cast a spell or curse their relatives. Of course, the curse is never good and their relatives might face ill luck for the whole year. Due to this reason, each family’s representative always makes it to the pagoda no matter how busy or poor he or she is. It is true that superstition outplays science sometimes.

Written by Haynataro
For www.khemaracorner.com