Pchum Ben

Pchum Ben is a 15 day Buddhist festival for the ancestors, who simplistically all get the opportunity each year to leave purgatory through the gate's of hell and eat rice offered by their descendants. Cambodians go to the Pagodas where their ancestors will be to give offerings to the monks. It is preceded by a 3 month lent-type period which involves banging very loud drums at 4 am every morning, which intensifies for the 15 day festival with the added joy of chanting & plinky plonky music - I may have mentioned it before. This occurs after the full moon in September but I have been in a post-dengue fugue since that time.

I know a little bit more about this festival as there is a reading exercise about it at the very end of the grade 2 khmer text book. Soyeth - my khmer teacher - was rushing me through the last pages, finishing words off for me, ignoring my mistakes more than usual when I realised it was because she wanted me to finish grade 2 before Pchum Ben so I could learn all abut it in khmer. 

With all the fun & games I had read about at the Pagoda I thought maybe I should go and see it for myself. After all my local Pagoda has been a reliable early morning alarm for over 3 months - I should probably go to see what all the noise at the Wat is about. Soyeth was simply delighted when I asked her if I could go with her.

So one weekend after my khmer lesson I went to Soyeth's local Pagoda with her. We had to go to the market first to by a ready made 'offering' to the monks - including such delights as fish sauce & washing powder as well as flowers for offering to Buddha. 

I had been instructed to wear a white shirt & Sompot (khmer skirt) but had been let off the Sompot as I had to cycle across town to Soyeth's. Soyeth lent me a scarf which is meant to act as a sash across ones torso but caused logistical issues as my torso is the equivalent of 3 cambodian torsos.

The routine goes something like this;

• give flowers to Buddha & 'corrup' three times - place your palms together whilst sitting & then bow down & touch the floor with your palms
• light incense
• get multiple burns to your hands from the cheap incense
• take incense outside & leave in a big pot with a prayer to Buddha (another one - the big one in the big part of the Pagoda)
• go back in & offer gift to monk
• get a very nice 'thank you' in english from said monk
• put one spoonful of rice in a row of bowls for monks
• have problems keeping your scarf in place (see photo below)
• don't forget to save a bit of rice to place in the scraps bowl with your fingers - significance of this still unclear to me
• bump into your deputy director & get introduced to his entire family who are buying food for all the people at the Pagoda - a yearly tradition for the wealthier families in the community

The following month I received an email ominously entitled 'photo of you' - ON my deputy director had sneakily taken a photo on his iPad of me.

In between times I had spent Pchum Ben down in Sihanoukville, then fallen off my perch with Dengue Fever. At the time it felt like going to the Pagoda was a good thing to do, especially as I was worried about the health of the 17 year old girl with the tachyarrhythmia. Giving blood the same week felt like surely good karma would now come my way. 

As we left the Pagoda Soyeth was muttering something under her breath - when I paid attention I realised she was talking to Buddha. She was telling him about me, she was saying "she is kind, she is intelligent, she has a good heart" - I'm not sure Buddha believed her or perhaps the coming weeks were just to remind me that life is, after all, suffering.

Soyeth with my $3 offering for the Monks - I got a nice Thank you in english for them

My Deputy Director sent me this photo he took - Soyeth thinks she looks old & her face is too thin. I think it is quite worrying just how much concentration I clearly require to simply spoon rice into bowls!