Last weekend was the Khmer New Year and Cambodians have a huge celebration for it. Many people here go back to their villages to celebrate the New Year with their families. We went out to a village our host had planted a church in to celebrate.
We had a Bible study with some of the locals to start our time there. After that, they took us to crash their neighbor’s party. There was lots of music and we learned some popular and traditional Khmer dances.
The next morning, we started our day with some games with the kids that included sack races and some relay games. We celebrated the winning team with more dancing and a particular favorite of the kids: baby powder fights. This is where they come up to you and try to get baby powder all over your face. Just when you think everyone is out of baby powder, somehow more appears. Everyone ends up with white faces.
In the afternoon we went to a pagoda (where the Buddhist monks live) to play games with some young adults. One of the games involves two people being blindfolded. One shakes a bottle filled with rocks while the other tries to catch them. The second game is a fun variation of tag where you stand with partners and the person who is being chased joins a partner group which causes the person on the other side to now be the one running away.
My favorite part was on the way to the pagoda and we would yell “hello” in Khmer to everyone we passed. After doing that I decided to learn how to say Happy Khmer New Year. The first time I used it, the lady gave me a strange look and my host burst out laughing. Apparently I said Happy New Calf! instead of Happy New Year. It’s been a week and my host still brings it up.
So Happy New Calf and Happy Khmer New Year everybody!
