Pchum Ben, Part II

Praying with the monks at the wat.

As I shared earlier this week, Pchum Ben is a Buddhist celebration.  It is typically a 15 day celebration, with the last three days being the most important, and the national public holiday.

Pchum Ben is also known as Ancestor's Day. Part of the festivities center around the belief of reincarnation, and that people who do not behave rightly in their life will suffer by becoming a ghost that is unable to be reincarnated in the afterlife. 

Preparing food, and me, watching for visual cues for the amount of money I should offer.

These hungry ghosts are often punished according to the level of their sins.  Small sins can lead to becoming an unattractive ghost, or having a mouth so small that eating is difficult.  Larger sins can mean having no mouth at all.

It is during Pchum Ben that these ancestors, or ghosts, can return to Earth.  As noted, the ghosts are hungry, and are believed to return to various pagodas, or wats (temples of Buddhist worship), seeking out their living ancestors.  Those living should offer food and other tokens to the ghosts visiting the pagodas.  This can happen in mainly two ways: by throwing the food directly into spaces designated around a pagoda, or by feeding the monks.

Preparing food offerings at the wat.

Last year, Chris and I participated in the first ritual of throwing the food to the ghosts.  This happens very early in the morning, before sunrise.  Families prepare balls of sticky rice, fruit, and water to share with the hungry ghosts.  Carrying candles and incense, our community prayed to their ancestors with the monks for about twenty minutes, and then we walked around the pagoda three times, throwing our sticky rice balls and other offerings in several different spaces around the temple.  This happens before sunrise because many believe that ghosts are fearful of sunlight and must be fed before the sun rises.

Entertaining the children while their mother prepares food offerings.

Preparing the food offerings at the wat.

This year, we participated in the second ritual: feeding the monks.  Around seven AM, we drove with our family to "their" pagoda (they had spent the day before visiting 2-3 pagodas in a nearby province that is our brother-in-law's homeland and home pagodas to feed his ancestors' ghosts.)  Our host mother and sister worked with several other female family members to organize plates of food like noodles, small cakes, and high quality chicken and beef to offer to the monks.

Offering rice at the wat.

Large pile of rice offerings for the monks.

In the center of the pagoda, several rice bowls were placed for each family to offer a few cups of rice to the monks.  This tradition is usually held because the monks are seen as the gateway to speaking to their ancestors, and many believe that by feeding the monks, they are thereby feeding their ancestors or transferring good merit to their ancestors' ghosts and therefore helping these ghosts pay for their prior sins.

Bringing the food offerings to the monks.

These rituals are so important because ghosts can become angry if they are not fed by their ancestors, and could potentially curse their living family members.  

Other aspects of visiting the pagoda during Pchum Ben including offering small donations to purchase incense, and sending up three prayers using three sticks of incense- often asking for safety, healthy, happiness and offering rice and small amounts of money (2.5-12.5 cents) to younger monks.

Praying with the monks.

Personally, I also believe these Buddhist holidays- which nearly always involve visiting the pagodas and offering food- are a model for the Khmer cultural custom of helping others and sharing with those who are less fortunate.  Often, families in need are given leftover food from the feeding of the monks.  Offering food is one the easiest ways to balance out the difference between "nek mian" and "nek k'mian"- literally, those with and those without.  It is not only a part of Buddhist belief that doing so will bring merit to your current life, but it is also such an ingrained part of the culture that the thought of not offering a small part of whatever you have is unthinkable.

In many ways, this is the exact same thinking behind soup kitchens and homeless shelters in America that offer large dinners for those in need during the major holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas.  What are your thoughts?

**big thanks to our Safety and Security Officer here in Cambodia, from whom I procured much of the wording of this information. He offered one of the clearest descriptions of the holiday and the why's and how's to us Volunteers and I am incredibly grateful.  If you want to know more, check out here or here.**