Remember

Because Pchum Ben will be soon, everyone in Cambodia is going back to their homeland. Families gather and celebrate during that time. From the 21th to the 25th of September, Cambodians believe the gates of hell to open and the spirits of their deceased ancestors to come to earth. With food offerings the people want to end the period of purgation. Other spirits return to hell after Pchum Ben and continue their suffering. Good spirits that are in heaven or reincarnated, also benefit from the offerings. The monks do religious chanting and everyone is praying for their ancestors and a better life for themselves.

In the mornings Cambodians visit the pagoda and bring food for the monks. The believe, that the monks can give on the food to the ancestors is really old. Eating the earthly prepared food helps them to go to the after life. Grandma (everyone just calls her like this) is even sleeping in the Pagoda, because the people that did bad things in their life (the bad spirits), can only enter the Pagoda at night time. They put the food in the corners and wait for the spirits to eat it. With Ratana I visited her family when they went to the Pagoda. It was a really interesting experience. As they live far on the countryside, we had to travel there for over an hour. The landscape is so beautiful that it doesen’t matter, but the small paths between the rice fields are often difficult to drive on. We were three people sitting on the motorbike, but I soon got used to it. After all it’s nothing strange to see five people and more people on moto.

We visit the Pagoda and as soon as I walk up the steps to the room where the religious ceremony is taking place, I am surrounded by old women, that grab my hands and tell me things I don’t understand. I turn around in search of Ratana but I can’t find her. I think it is my destiny here, that I am always surrounded by many, many people that try to tell me something important. My strategy has been to smile back and nod to everything they say. Finally I can spot Ratana. She is at the end of the hall, adding her food in a big rice bowl and putting the rest on a table where a giant amount of all kind of dishes is already prepared. The monks will start eating after the entrance ceremony, when they have finished everyone else can join. After 12 o’clock monks are not allowed to eat anything of substance anymore. Ratana is walking to the front of the hall, taking some joss sticks and lighting them to thank Buddha. When they start smoking, she puts them in an altar that is outside the Pagoda. Everything is smelling like it. No wonder since the smoke is wafting around all of us. Finally there is a gong and everyone is sitting down. Also Ratana, what makes me feel a little bit more normal. She is starting to point at some of the people that greeted me before, explaining in which ways she is related to them. Then the monks approach. They are dressed in orange, as usual and take their place infront of the food table. Everyone is paying their respect to Buddha with folding their hands and bowing three times. Soon a man that is somehow important in the village is taking a microphone and the religious chanting begins. He is saying something and everyone else answers. Then the monks start eating and everyone is wishing for a long and happy life.

Afterwards we go to the house of Ratanas parents. They sell little biscuits at the market and I help to make them. We take the doug, roll it out and form it so that it looks like we are eating tiny crabs. Then we boil the dough and wait. In the meantime we go to harvest oranges. We have a long branch that helps to let the highests fruits fall down. We struggle to bring them back to the cooking place as we picked so many. Before lunch we have to go to buy some things. As the market is half an hour away by motorbike, we go to the local “store”. Our way leads us through backyards and to small paths under palm trees until we find a a little hut where around 10 people stand chatting. They seem to live in many different directions and that the hut is the meeting place because eventually everyone needs something from there. The most important things can be found there, we buy some fruits, vegetables and a fish that is prepared freshly in front of our eyes.

All in all I went to the Pagoda three times during Pchum Ben and it’s pretty much always the same thing. We say that Cambodian is so different from Western culture, but it really isn’t. Pchum Ben reminds me of christmas, when the whole family is coming together, celebrating for three days and remembering the ancestors. And being in the Pagoda, listening to the chanting is just like sitting in the service. What makes both celebrations really identical, is the huge amour of food that everyone is eating. I meet so many people, but I forget how they are related to another and I don’t even try to keep their names in mind. I have to eat everything that is not vegetarian (not that I would mind) and desperately try to convince everyone that I don’t want to sleep. Maybe I look like I am of a very weak nature, but apparently most of the people want me to rest as much and work as little as possible. After I persuaded Ratana for about half an hour, she lets me cut a coconut. About 20 people are staring at me and I am quite nervous as it always looks so easy when I see Cambodians do it. As my first two strikes are a hand length apart from each other, I am not allowed to touch a knife anymore.

Pchum Ben ends when everyone wishes the spirits farewell. In the evening little boats are set in the rice fields, symbolizing the way home of the ancestors. In the boats are small lights, it’s beautiful when they are illuminating the whole countryside. Just like this, candles are lit in the Pagodas.