Pchum Ben Festival 

Bonn Pchum Ben”Pchum Ben is a religious ceremony which is celebrated after the full moon in the tenth month of Phatraboth (the tenth lunar month). Traditionally, Bonn Pchum Ben is held for fifteen days from one Rouch to fifteen Rouch (1^st day to 15^th day of waning moon), but from the 1^st day to the 14^th day is called Bonn Kan Ben and the final day (15^th day), that is the most important day of the event, is called Bonn Pchum Ben. Normally, people believe that the spirits of the dead come to receive offerings and gifts during the night time, the more it is dark the more it is the best time for them. The evil spirits don’t like the light but they’re accustomed themself to darkness and can easily find their way to the pagodas in the area where they used to live. The people don’t know where the spirits of their ancestors are, so they just leave their gifts within that limited area in the Pagoda because they feel that any distribution offered by them would be received by those spirits.                         
  In addition, Pchum Ben is a time when Khmer people remember their ancestors. The word “Ben” refers to the balls of rice which people dedicate to their ancestors or relatives who have died. People make balls of rice and prepare many kinds of food, incense, candles, and flowers in order to offer to monks. Then, the monks offer prayers in order that those pririts would live in the peacefull and happy lives (heaven).Buddhists believe that after one has died, spirit and soul will be reborn. Those who led a good life will be born into a happy world, but those who have committed harmful sins will be born into an unhappy world. We call the happy world ‘heaven’ and the unhappy one ‘hell’. The Pchum Ben festival is held for those who suffer in the hell, but they are permitted (set free) during Pchum Ben in order to receive the gifts that are dedicated to them by their offspring.  The Pchum Ben is also a special occasion for Khmer people to meet together at various pagodas and give offering (food, fruit, desert, or buns) to the spirits of their ancestors who have already died through the monks. In pagoda, the people always light the incense to pray to the Buddha for solace, prosperity, harmony, happiness, and noble success in their lives and then they dish out rice into the monks’ bowls that arranged in rows. Superstitionally, if one does not participate in celebrating the festival, one would be cursed bad luck and poor throughout the year. As usual in this year, khmer people went to their respective hometowns to meet up with their families and relatives and celebrate Pchum Ben festival.

Water Festival

The Water Festival (the Boat Race, the Moon Festival and Bonn Ork Om Bok=eat the flat rice) takes place each year in October or November, at the time of the full moon, and is the most extravagant and exuberant festival in the Khmer calendar, outdoing even the New Year celebrations.
Starting on the day of the full moon in late October or early November, up to a million people from all walks of life and from all over the country flock to the banks of the Tonle Sap and Mekong Rivers in Phnom Penh to watch traditional boats racing on a huge scale. This year more than 400 of the brightly colored boats with over 2,500 paddlers battled it out for top honors. The boat racing dates back to ancient times marking the strength of the powerful Khmer marine forces during the Khmer empire.
During the day, the boats race in pairs along a kilometer-long course, and then in the evening brightly decorated floats cruise along the river prior to and during the nightly fireworks and Pratip(floating- light-art)displays at the end of each racing day.
There is often a parallel festival at Angkor Wat and although it is smaller in scale it is just as impressive due to the backdrop of Angkor Wat.
The festival marks the changing of the flow of the Tonle Sap River and is also seen as thanksgiving to the Mekong River for providing the country with fertile land and abundant fish. It is at this time when the river flow reverts to its normal down-stream direction. In a remarkable phenomenon, the Tonle Sap River earlier reverses its course as the rainy season progresses, with the river flowing “upstream” to Tonle Sap Lake. Then as the rainy season tapers off, the river changes direction once again as the swollen Tonle Sap Lake begins to empty back into the Mekong River, leaving behind vast quantities of fish.