THE KING FATHER IS DEAD

BATTAMBANG PEOPLE REMEMBER THEIR ANCESTORS

Pchum Ben or Ancestors’ Day that takes places during the lunar month of Pot-bot, is a Cambodian Buddhist and Brahmanism festival where people pay respect to the spirits of their ancestors and deceased relatives.

It is probably the most important festival in Cambodia and anyone who can, returns to their place of birth to be with family. As a result, schools, government offices and many business closed for several days.

Even though it is called Ancestors’ Day, it runs for three days and there is a lead up of fifteen days where people follow the custom of feeding the ancestors. It is believed that the dead wander the world during this period and the offering of food is meant to make their passage more comfortable.

On the main day Monks chant the Mantras in Pali  language throughout the night as prelude to the gates of hell opening, an event that is presumed to occur once a year, and is linked to the cosmology of King Yama originating in the Pali Canon. During the period of the gates of hell being opened, ghosts of the dead are presumed to be especially active, and thus food-offerings are made to benefit them, some of these ghosts have the opportunity to end their period of purgation, whereas others are imagined to leave hell temporarily, to then return to endure more suffering Relatives who are not in hell (who are in heaven or otherwise reincarnated) are also believed to benefit from the ceremonies.

In temples adhering to canonical protocol, the offering of food itself is made from the laypeople to the (living) Buddhist monks, thus generating "merit" that indirectly benefits the dead; however, in many temples, this is either accompanied by or followed by food offerings that are believed to directly transfer from the living to the dead, such as rice-balls thrown through the air, or rice thrown into an empty field. Anthropologist Satoru Kobayashi observed that these two models of merit-offering to the dead are in competition in rural Cambodia, with some temples preferring the greater canonicity of the former model, and others embracing the popular (if unorthodox) assumption that mortals can "feed" ghosts with physical food.

Pchum Ben is considered unique to Cambodia although similar festivals are found in Sri Lanka.

Interesting fact: All Souls Day is a Christian festival that is universally celebrated on November 2, but in Cambodia, Catholic communities celebrate it is during the traditional Pchum Ben.

BATTAMBANG HAS TALENT - ARTS HUB & CIRCUS SCHOOL WINS EUROPEAN GRANT

Young clowns pictured during one of their show at PPS’s circus in Battambang. Photograph: Rolf Braendels/Phnom Penh Post

“Art is integral for human development, for freedom of expression, for dreaming … but perhaps it’s even more important for young people in a country like Cambodia,” Suon Bun Rith muses.

As director of Phare Ponleu Selpak (PPS), an arts hub, school and orphanage for disadvantaged children in the outskirts of Battambang, Rith and his team assist almost 80 children bearing emotional and physical scars – victims of trafficking, domestic violence and extreme poverty. They provide medical support, meals, education and a unique arts and performance program.

The NGO’s raison d’etre, however, was always to reinvigorate the arts in Cambodia among the country’s young through a unique arts and performance program, and it now houses three artistic schools in Battambang. Free of charge,  they are open to all and now teach 450 children painting, cartooning, acting, circus acrobatics, music and theatre.

Last month, the organisation was hailed as one of 11 recipients of an annual, worldwide award from Dutch body the Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development (PCFCD).

Awarded a €25,000 prize, the award was a “complete, but very pleasant surprise” for Rith and his team, who had been nominated by a mystery advocate.

“I think this is a great opportunity and honours our work and our belief in the arts, I believe we may be the first Cambodian group to win this award.

“We are empowering the youth by using culture as a medium for young people, it’s a very specific award,” he says

The award couldn’t have come at a better time for PPS, Rith says, as wild weather in July had ripped the roof off one of the schools.

“We didn’t have the money to fix it and even though we are not a cultural heritage site, PCFCD also gave us a grant of €1,000 to fix it.”

The award money will be used to upgrade facilities and hygiene systems in surrounding villages and boost staff and resources at the centre.

BATTAMBANG SHOOT OUT!

A Thai man accused of dealing drugs in partnership with his Cambodian wife was wounded in a shootout with police and military police officers in Battambang town yesterday.

Heng Send Hong, director of the Battambang provincial military police anti-drug office, said an operation had led forces to surround a rented house in Svay Por commune, where they believed the suspects were holed up.

When police swooped on the property in an attempt to arrest the suspected dealers, the man opened fire, Hong said.

Police fired back, hitting him in the lower back, then arrested him and his wife.

“We have not yet finished investigating, and are searching for anyone in their wider network,” Hong said, adding that police had discovered an undisclosed amount of methamphetamines and a gun.

Hong said he could not reveal the identities of the suspects or the quantity of drugs seized as authorities wanted to make more arrests in connection with the alleged drug activities.

Cheth Vanny, deputy police commissioner in Battambang, said the arrests were the result of co-operation between the two police forces.