FÊTE DES MORTS (PRACHUM BEN)
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Very important especially in the countryside, the festival of the dead is punctuated with rituals for the ancestors, followed by a banquet.
The Prachum Ben, or Fortnight of the Dead, begins on the first day of the waning moon of Photrobot, that is to say between the months of August and September, and is celebrated in all the pagodas, in Phnom Penh as well as in the most remote villages of the provinces. Especially in the countryside, this festival ends in each house with a banquet offered to the spirits of ancestors and dear friends who, for a few days, have come to mingle with the living world. On the last day, before dawn, a light skiff, dug out of a banana tree trunk and containing cakes and various offerings, is left along the water by the faithful who ask the spirits to return to the place from which they came. During the last days of this fortnight, on all the cultivated lands, the peasants also celebrate very ancient rites in homage to the old Brahmanic deities to obtain an abundance of harvests. It is an edifying symbol of local syncretism mixing religion and ancestral beliefs. In the district of Ksach Kandal, around the pagoda of Wat Vihear Sour which is located in the southeast of Phnom Penh, buffalo races are organized for the Prachum Ben. They start around 7am and last about an hour. They take place on a 3 km long circuit leading to the pagoda. Confidential at the beginning, these races have become more and more popular over the years and now draw large crowds. On this occasion, Khmer wrestling jousts are also organized.
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