Khmer New Year

The angel of the year

Chaul Chnam Thmey turns the solar year, the same turn that Thailand, Laos and Myanmar keep in their own ways in the middle of April. The first day, Maha Sangkran, is the crossing: houses are cleaned and lamps lit to receive the tevoda, the angel who will look after the coming year, and people wash their faces in the morning, their chests at midday and their feet in the evening for luck. The second day, Virak Vanabat, is for giving — to the poor, to servants, to those with nothing — and for the ceremony for the family's dead at the monastery. The third, Virak Loeung Sak, is for washing: Buddha images are bathed in scented water, and so are parents and grandparents, which is said to bring them long life.

Sand, games and water

In the pagoda courtyards people build mounds of sand, phnom khsach, one large stupa for the Buddha and smaller ones around it for his disciples; each grain is counted as a sin carried away. Outside, the games of the new year are played in the street and nowhere else in the calendar: chol chhoung, a cloth ball thrown between a line of young men and a line of young women; bos angkunh, throwing seeds at seeds; leak kanseng, a scarf hidden behind a circle of sitting players; bay khom, a board of holes and beads. In many towns water and chalk are thrown as well, though that part is younger and is not kept everywhere.

When it falls

The date is calculated, not fixed: it is the moment the sun enters the new year, and in most years that makes the holiday 14 to 16 April, with some years beginning on the 13th. It is the one week when Phnom Penh empties almost completely and the provinces fill.